Riverside  Literature  Series 


SCUDDERS 


George  Washington 


Houghton,Mifflin  &T  Co. 


Hibersfoe  ^Literature 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 


AN  HISTORICAL  BIOGRAPHY 


HORACE  E.  SCUDDER 


HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 

Boston :  4  Park  Street ;    New  York  :   85  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago  :  378-388  Wabash  Avenue 

<£be  flnjcrjHbe  pwjjji,  Cambridge 


Copyright,  1886, 
BY  THE   CENTURY  COMPANY. 

Copyright,  1889, 
BY  HORACE  E.  SCUDDEK. 

All  rights  reserved. 


CONTENTS. 


I.  OLD  VIRGINIA         ......  7 

II.  A  VIRGINIA  PLANTATION 14 

III.  THE  BOYHOOD  OF  WASHINGTON  ....    21 

IV.  SCHOOL-DAYS 29 

V.  MOUNT  VERNON  AND  BELVOIR     .        .        .        .37 

VI.  THE  YOUNG  SURVEYOR 45 

VII.  THE  OHIO  COMPANY      .        .       .       .        .        .52 

VIII.  MAJOR  WASHINGTON          .        ....        60 

IX.  FORT  DUQUESNE  AND  FORT  NECESSITY       .        .    70 
X.  A  TERRIBLE  LESSON  IN  WAR  ....        80 

XI.  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF  OF  TH^;  VIRGINIA  FORCES    95 
XII.  WASHINGTON  AT  MOUNT  VERNON        .        .        .  107 

XIII.  A  VIRGINIA  BURGESS 119 

XIV.  THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS       ....  131 
XV.  UNDER  THE  OLD  ELM        .....      144 

XVI.  LEADING  THE  ARMY 156 

XVII.  AT  VALLEY  FORGE 170 

XVIII.  THE  CONWAY  CABAL 178 

XIX.  MONMOUTH 187 

XX.  THE  LAST  CAMPAIGN 194 

XXI.  WASHINGTON  RESIGNS  HIS  COMMISSION     .        .      203 
XXII.  MR.  WASHINGTON 212 

XXIII.  CALLED  TO  THE  HELM       .  «        .        .      219 

XXIV.  PRESIDENT  WASHINGTON 226 

XXV.  THE  FAREWELL  .  242 


2033590 


LIST  OF  MAPS 


FACING 

PAGE 


BOCTB  OF  SHADDOCK'S  ARMY 90 

BOSTON,  WITH  ITS  ENVIRONS 154 

THE  CENTRAL  FIELD  OF  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  WAK  .    .  164 


GEOKGE  WASHINGTON". 

AN  HISTORICAL  BIOGRAPHY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

OLD   VIRGINIA. 

IN  1732,  when  people  spoke  of  Virginia,  they 
meant  commonly  so  much  of  the  present  State  as 
lies  between  Chesapeake  Bay  and  the  Blue  Ridge 
Mountains.  In  the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah 
River,  just  beyond  the  first  range  of  mountains, 
there  were  a  few  families,  chiefly  Irish  and  Ger- 
man, who  had  made  their  way  southward  from 
Pennsylvania ;  the  governor  of  Virginia,  too,  was 
at  this  time  engaged  in  planting  a  colony  of  Ger- 
mans in  the  valley.  Still  farther  to  the  west- 
ward were  a  few  bold  pioneers,  who  built  their 
log-cabins  in  the  wilderness  and  lived  by  hunting 
and  fishing.  No  one  knew  how  far  Virginia 
stretched  ;  the  old  charters  from  the  king  had 
talked  vaguely  about  the  South  Sea,  meaning  by 
that  the  Pacific  Ocean ;  but  the  country  beyond  the 
mountains  had  never  been  surveyed,  and  scarcely 
even  explored.  The  people  who  called  themselves 


8  GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

Virginians  looked  upon  those  who  lived  beyond 
the  Blue  Ridge  very  much  as  nowadays  persons 
on  the  Atlantic  coast  look  upon  those  who  settle 
in  Dakota  or  Montana. 

Down  from  these  mountains  came  the  streams 
which  swelled  into  rivers,  —  the  Potomac,  the  Rap- 
pahannock,  the  York,  and  the  James,  with  their 
countless  branches  and  runs  and  creeks.  Look  at 
any  map  of  eastern  Virginia  and  see  what  a  long 
coast  line  it  has,  what  arms  of  the  sea  stretch  in- 
land, what  rivers  come  down  to  meet  the  sea,  and 
what  a  net-work  of  water-ways  spreads  over  the 
whole  country.  You  would  say  that  the  people 
living  there  must  be  skillful  fishermen  and  sail- 
ors, that  thriving  seaport  towns  would  be  scattered 
along  the  coast  and  rivers,  and  that  there  would 
be  great  shipyards  for  the  building  of  all  kinds  of 
vessels. 

But  in  1732  there  were  no  large  towns  in  Vir- 
ginia—  there  were  scarcely  any  towns  at  all. 
Each  county  had  a  county  seat,  where  were  a 
court-house  and  a  prison,  and  an  inn  for  the  con- 
venience of  those  who  had  business  in  court; 
usually  there  was  a  church,  and  sometimes  a  small 
country  store ;  but  there  were  no  other  houses,  and 
often  the  place  was  in  the  middle  of  the  woods. 
The  capital  of  Virginia  —  AVilliamsburg  —  had 
less  than  two  hundred  houses ;  and  Norfolk,  the 
largest  town,  at  the  head  of  a  noble  harbor,  had 
a  population  of  five  thousand  or  so.  A  few  fish 


OLD   VIRGINIA.  9 

were  caught  in  the  rivers  or  on  the  coast,  but 
there  was  no  business  of  fishing ;  a  few  boats  plied 
from  place  to  place,  but  there  was  no  ship-build- 
ing ;  and  the  ships  which  sailed  into  the  harbors 
and  up  the  rivers  were  owned  elsewhere,  and  came 
from  England  or  the  other  American  colonies. 
There  were  no  manufactures,  and  scarcely  a 
trained  mechanic  in  the  whole  colony.  Yet  Vir- 
ginia was  the  most  populous,  and,  some  thought, 
the  richest  of  the  British  colonies  in  America. 
In  1732  she  had  half  a  million  inhabitants,  — 
more  than  twice  as  many  as  New  York  had  at 
that  time. 

Where  were  the  people,  then,  and  what  were 
they  doing?  They  were  living  in  the  country, 
and  raising  tobacco.  More  than  a  hundred  years 
before,  the  first  Englishmen  who  had  come  to  Vir- 
ginia had  found  that  they  could  raise  nothing 
which  was  so  much  wanted  in  England,  and  could 
bring  them  so  much  money,  as  tobacco.  Besides, 
these  Englishmen  had  not  been  mechanics  or  fish- 
ermen or  sailors  in  England  ;  they  had  for  the 
most  part  been  used  to  living  on  farms.  So  they 
fell  at  once  to  planting  tobacco,  and  they  could 
not  raise  enough  to  satisfy  people  in  England  and 
other  parts  of  the  Old  World.  All  the  fine  gen- 
tlemen took  to  smoking ;  it  was  something  new 
and  fashionable  ;  and,  I  suppose,  a  great  many 
puffed  away  at  their  pipes  who  wondered  what 
the  pleasure  was,  and  sometimes  wished  the  weed 


10  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

had  never  been  discovered.  The  king  of  Eng- 
land did  not  like  it,  and  he  wrote  a  book  to  dis- 
suade people  from  the  use  of  tobacco  ;  but  every 
one  went  on  smoking  Virginia  tobacco  as  before. 

The  company  which  sent  colonists  to  Virginia 
promised  fifty  acres  to  any  one  who  would  clear 
the  land  and  settle  upon  it ;  for  a  small  sum  of 
money  one  might  buy  a  hundred  acres ;  and  if 
any  one  did  some  special  service  to  the  colony,  he 
might  receive  a  gift  of  as  much  as  two  thousand 
acres.  Now,  in  England,  to  own  land  was  to  be 
thought  much  of.  Only  noblemen  or  country  gen- 
tlemen could  boast  of  having  two  thousand  or  a 
hundred  or  even  fifty  acres.  So  the  Englishmen 
who  came  to  Virginia,  where  land  was  plenty, 
were  all  eager  to  own  great  estates. 

To  carry  on  such  estates,  and  especially  to  raise 
tobacco,  required  many  laborers.  It  was  not 
easy  for  the  Virginia  land-owners  to  bring  these 
from  English  farms.  They  could  not  be  spared 
by  the  farmers  there,  and  besides,  such  laborers 
were  for  the  most  part  men  and  women  who  had 
never  been  beyond  the  villages  where  they  had 
been  born  and  had  hardly  ever  heard  of  America. 
They  lived,  father  and  son,  in  the  same  place, 
and  knew  little  about  any  other.  But  in  London 
and  other  cities  of  England  there  were,  at  the 
time  when  the  Virginia  colony  was  formed,  many 
poor  people  who  had  no  work  and  nothing  to  live 
on.  If  these  people  could  be  sent  to  America, 


OLD  VIRGINIA.  11 

not  only  would  the  cities  be  rid  of  them,  but  the 
gentlemen  in  the  new  country  would  have  laborers 
to  cut  down  trees,  clear  the  fields,  and  plant  to- 
bacco. 

Accordingly,  many  of  these  idle  and  poor  people 
were  sent  over  as  servants.  The  Virginia  plant- 
ers paid  their  passage,  sheltered,  fed,  and  clothed 
them,  and  in  return  had  the  use  of  their  labor  for 
a  certain  number  of  years.  The  plan  did  not  work 
very  well,  however.  Often  these  "  indentured  ser- 
vants," as  they  were  called,  were  idle  and  unwil- 
ling to  work  —  that  was  one  reason  that  they  had 
been  poor  in  London.  Even  when  they  did  work, 
they  were  only  "  bound  "  for  a  certain  length  of 
time.  After  they  had  served  their  time,  they 
were  free.  Then  they  sometimes  cleared  farms 
for  themselves ;  but  very  often  they  led  lazy,  vi- 
cious lives,  and  were  a  trouble  and  vexation  to 
the  neighborhood. 

It  seemed  to  these  Virginia  planters  that  there 
was  a  better  way.  In  1619,  a  year  before  the 
Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth,  a  Dutch  captain 
brought  up  the  James  River  twenty  blacks  whom 
he  had  captured  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  He 
offered  to  sell  these  to  the  planters,  and  they 
bought  them.  No  one  saw  anything  out  of  the 
way  in  this.  It  was  no  new  thing  to  own  slaves. 
There  were  slaves  in  the  West  India  Islands,  and 
in  the  countries  of  Europe.  Indians  when  cap- 
tured  in  war  were  sold  into  slavery.  For  that 


12  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

matter,  white  men  had  been  made  slaves.  The  dif- 
ference between  these  blacks  and  the  indentured 
servants  was  that  the  planter  who  paid  the  Dutch 
captain  for  a  black  ,man  had  the  use  of  him  all 
his  lifetime,  but  if  he  bought  from  an  English 
captain  the  services  of  an  indentured  white  man, 
he  could  only  have  those  services  for  a  few  months 
or  years.  It  certainly  was  much  more  convenient 
to  have  an  African  slave. 

There  were  not  many  of  these  slaves  at  first. 
An  occasional  shipload  was  brought  from  Africa, 
but  it  was  not  until  after  fifty  years  that  negroes 
made  any  considerable  part  of  the  population. 
They  had  families,  and  all  the  children  were  slaves 
like  their  parents.  More  were  bought  of  captains 
who  made  a  business  of  going  to  Africa  to  trade 
for  slaves,  just  as  they  might  have  gone  to  the 
East  Indies  for  spices.  The  plantations  were 
growing  larger,  and  the  more  slaves  a  man  had, 
the  more  tobacco  he  could  raise ;  the  more  tobacco 
he  could  raise,  the  richer  he  was.  Until  long 
after  the  year  1732,  the  people  in  Virginia  were 
wont  to  reckon  the  cost  of  things,  not  by  pounds, 
shillings,  and  pence  —  the  English  currency, — 
but  by  pounds  of  tobacco  —  the  Virginia  currency. 
The  salaries  of  the  clergy  were  paid  in  tobacco ; 
so  were  all  their  fees  for  christening,  marrying, 
and  burying.  Taxes  were  paid  and  accounts  were 
kept  in  tobacco.  At  a  few  points  there  were 
houses  to  which  planters  brought  their  tobacco, 


OLD  VIRGINIA.  13 

and  these  warehouses  served  the  purpose  of  banks. 
A  planter  stored  his  tobacco  and  received  a  cer- 
tificate of  deposit.  This  certificate  he  could  use 
instead  of  a  check  on  a  bank. 

The  small  planters  who  lived  high  up  the  rivers, 
beyond  the  point  where  vessels  could  go,  floated 
their  tobacco  in  boats  down  to  one  of  the  ware- 
houses, where  it  made  part  of  the  cargo  of  some 
ship  sailing  for  England.  But  the  largest  part  of 
this  produce  was  shipped  directly  from  the  great 
plantations.  Each  of  these  had  its  own  store- 
house and  its  own  wharf.  The  Virginia  planter 
was  his  own  shipping  merchant.  He  had  his 
agent  in  London.  Once  a  year,  a  vessel  would 
make  its  way  up  the  river  to  his  wharf.  It 
brought  whatever  he  or  his  family  needed.  He 
had  sent  to  his  agent  to  buy  clothes,  furniture, 
table-linen,  tools,  medicine,  spices,  foreign  fruits, 
harnesses,  carriages,  cutlery,  wines,  books,  pic- 
tures, —  there  was  scarcely  an  article  used  in  his 
house  or  on  his  plantation  for  which  he  did  not 
send  to  London.  Then  in  return  he  helped  to 
load  the  vessel,  and  he  had  just  one  article  with 
which  to  make  up  the  cargo  —  tobacco.  Now  and 
then  tar,  pitch,  and  turpentine  were  sent  from 
some  districts,  but  the  Virginia  planter  rarely  sent 
anything  but  tobacco  to  England  in  return  for 
what  he  received. 


CHAPTER  II.    ... 

A  VIRGINIA  PLANTATION. 

LET  us  visit  in  imagination  one  of  these  Vir- 
ginia plantations,  such  as  were  to  be  found  in 
1732,  and  see  what  sort  of  life  was  led  upon  it. 

To  reach  the  plantation,  one  is  likely  to  ride 
for  some  distance  through  the  woods.  The  coun- 
try is  not  yet  cleared  of  the  forest,  and  each 
planter,  as  he  adds  one  tobacco-field  to  another,  has 
to  make  inroads  upon  the  great  trees.  Coming 
nearer,  one  rides  past  tracts  where  the  underbrush 
is  gone,  but  tall,  gaunt  trees  stand,  bearing  no 
foliage  and  looking  ready  to  fall  to  the  ground. 
They  have  been  girdled,  that  is,  have  had  a  gash 
cut  around  the  trunk,  through  the  bark,  quite 
into  the  wood  ;  thus  the  sap  cannot  flow,  and  the 
tree  rots  away,  falling  finally  with  a  great  crash. 
The  luckless  traveler  sometimes  finds  his  way 
stopped  by  one  of  these  trees  fallen  across  the 
road.  By  the  border  of  these  tracts  are  Virginia 
rail-fences,  eight  or  ten  feet  in  height,  which  zig- 
zag in  a  curious  fashion,  —  the  rails,  twelve  feet 
or  so  in  length,  not  running  into  posts,  but  rest- 
ing on  one  another  at  the  ends,  like  a  succession 
of  Ws.  When  the  new  land  is  wholly  cleared 


A  VIRGINIA  PLANTATION.  15 

/>f  trees,  these  fences  can  be  removed,  stick  by 
stick,  and  set  farther  back.  No  post-holes  have  to 
be  dug,  nor  posts  driven  in. 

Now  the  tobacco-fields  come  into  view.  If  the 
plant  is  growing,  one  sees  long  rows  of  hillocks 
kept  free  from  weeds,  and  the  plant  well  bunched 
at  the  top,  for  the  lower  leaves  and  suckers  are 
pruned  once  a  week  ;  and  as  there  is  a  worm  which 
infests  the  tobacco,  and  has  to  be  picked  off  and 
killed,  during  the  growth  of  the  plant  all  hands 
are  kept  busy  in  the  field. 

I  have  said  that  there  were  scarcely  any  towns 
or  villages  in  Virginia,  so  one  might  fancy  there 
was  some  mistake;  for  what  means  this  great 
collection  of  houses  ?  Surely  here  is  a  village  ; 
but  look  closer.  There  are  no  stores  or  shops  or 
churches  or  schoolhouses.  Rising  above  the  rest 
is  one  principal  building.  It  is  the  planter's  own 
house,  which  very  likely  is  surrounded  by  beauti- 
ful trees  and  gardens.  At  a  little  distance  are 
the  cabins  of  the  negroes,  and  the  gaping  wooden 
tobacco-houses,  in  which  the  tobacco  is  drying, 
hung  upon  poles  and  well  sunned  and  aired,  for 
the  houses  are  built  so  as  to  allow  plenty  of  ven- 
tilation and  sunlight.  The  cabins  of  the  negroes 
are  low  wooden  buildings,  the  chinks  filled  in 
with  clay.  Many  of  them  have  kitchen  gardens 
about  them,  for  the  slaves  are  allowed  plots  of 
ground  on  which  to  raise  corn  and  melons  and 
small  vegetables  for  their  own  use.  The  planter's 


16  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

house  is  sometimes  of  wood,  sometimes  of  brick, 
and  sometimes  of  stone.  The  one  feature,  how- 
ever, which  always  strikes  a  stranger  is  the  great 
outside  chimney,  —  usually  there  is  one  at  each 
end  of  the  house,  —  a  huge  pile  of  brick  or  stone, 
rising  above  the  ridge-pole.  Very  often,  too,  there 
are  wide  verandas  and  porches.  In  this  climate, 
where  there  are  no  freezing-cold  winters,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  build  chimneys  in  the  middle  of  the 
house,  where  the  warmth  of  the  bricks  may  serve 
to  temper  the  air  of  all  the  rooms.  Moreover,  in 
the  warm  summers  it  is  well  to  keep  the  heat  of 
the  cooking  away  from  the  house,  so  the  meals 
are  prepared  in  kitchens  built  separate  from  the 
main  house.  Inside  the  gx-eat  house,  one  finds 
one's  self  in  large,  airy  rooms  and  halls;  wide 
fireplaces  hold  blazing  fires  in  the  cool  days,  and 
in  the  summer  there  is  a  passage  of  air  on  all 
sides.  Sometimes  the  rooms  are  lathed  and  plas- 
tered, but  often  they  are  sheathed  in  the  cedar 
and  other  woods  which  grow  abundantly  in  the 
country.  There  is  little  of  that  spruce  tidiness 
on  which  a  New  England  housekeeper  prides  her- 
self. The  house  servants  are  lazy  and  good- 
natured,  and  the  people  live  in  a  generous  fashion, 
careless  of  waste,  and  indifferent  to  orderly  ways. 
The  planter  has  no  market  near  by  to  which  he 
can  go  for  his  food ;  accordingly  he  has  his  own 
smokehouse,  in  which  he  cures  his  ham  and  smokes 
ilia  beef;  he  has  outhouses  and  barns  scattered 


A  VIRGINIA  PLANTATION.  17 

about,  where  lie  stores  his  provisions ;  and  down 
where  the  brook  runs  is  the  spring-house,  built 
over  the  running  stream.  Here  the  milk  and 
butter  and  eggs  are  kept  standing  in  buckets  in 
the  cool  fresh  water.  The  table  is  an  abundant 
but  coarse  one.  The  woods  supply  game,  and  the 
planter  has  herds  of  cattle.  But  he  raises  few  veg- 
etables and  little  wheat.  The  English  ship  brings, 
him  wines  and  liquors,  which  are  freely  used, 
and  now  and  then  one  of  his  negro  women  has  a 
genius  for  cooking  and  can  make  dainty  dishes. 
The  living,  however,  is  rather  profuse  than  nice. 

It  fits  the  rude,  out-of-door  life  of  the  men. 
The  master  of  the  house  spends  much  of  Ms  time 
in  the  saddle.  He  prides  himself  on  his  norses, 
and  keeps  his  stables  well  filled.  It  is  his  chief 
business  to  look  after  bis  estate.  He  has,  to  be 
sure,  an  overseer,  or  steward,  who  takes  his  orders 
and  sees  that  the  various  gangs  of  negroes  do 
their  required  work  ;  but  the  master,  if  he  would 
succeed,  himself  must  visit  the  several  parts  of 
his  plantation  and  make  sure  that  all  goes  on 
smoothly.  He  must  have  an  eye  to  his  stock,  for 
very  likely  he  has  blooded  horses  ;  he  must  see 
that  the  tobacco  is  well  harvested  ;  he  must  ride 
to  the  new  field  which  is  being  cleared,  and  in- 
spect his  fences.  There  is  enough  in  all  this  to 
keep  the  planter  in  his  saddle  all  day  long. 

With  horses  in  the  stable  and  dogs  in  the  ken- 
nel, the  Virginian  is  a  great  hunter.  He  lives  in 


18  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

a  country  where  he  can  chase  not  only  the  fox, 
but  the  bear  and  the  wild  cat.  With  other  plant- 
ers he  rides  after  the  hounds  ;  and  they  try  their 
horses  on  the  race-course.  The  man  who  can  ride 
the  hardest,  shoot  the  surest,  lift  the  heaviest 
weight,  run,  leap,  and  wrestle  beyond  his  fellows, 
is  the  most  admired. 

With  so  free  and  independent  a  life,  the  Vir- 
ginian is  a  generous  man,  who  is  hospitable  both 
to  his  neighbors  and  to  strangers.  If  he  hears  of 
any  one  traveling  through  the  country  and  putting 
up  at  one  of  the  uncomfortable  little  inns,  he 
sends  for  him  to  come  to  his  house,  without  wait- 
ing for  a  letter  of  introduction.  He  entertains 
his  neighbors,  and  there  are  frequent  gatherings 
of  old  and  young  for  dancing  and  merry-making. 
The  tobacco  crop  varies,  and  the  price  of  it  is 
constantly  changing.  Thus  the  planter  can  never 
reckon  with  confidence  upon  his  income,  and, 
with  his  reckless  style  of  living,  he  is  often  in 
debt.  He  despises  small  economies,  and  looks 
down  upon  the  merchant  and  trader,  whose  busi- 
ness it  is  to  watch  closely  what  they  receive  and 
what  they  pay  out. 

The  Virginian  does  not  often  go  far  from  his 
plantation.  His  chief  journey  is  to  the  capital, 
at  Williamsburg,  where  he  goes  when  the  colonial 
House  of  Burgesses  is  in  session.  Then  he  gets 
out  his  great  yellow  coach,  and  his  family  drive 
over  rough  roads  and  come  upon  other  planters 


A  VIRGINIA  PLANTATION.  19 

and  their  families  driving  through  the  woods  in 
the  same  direction.  At  the  capital,  during  the 
session,  are  held  balls  and  other  grand  entertain- 
ments, and  the  men  discuss  the  affairs  of  the  col- 
ony. They  honor  the  king,  and  pay  their  taxes 
without  much  grumbling,  but  they  are  used  tc 
managing  affairs  in  Virginia  without  a  great  deal 
of  interference  from  England.  The  new  country 
helps  to  make  them  independent ;  they  are  far 
away  from  King  and  Parliament  and  Court ;  they 
are  used  to  rule ;  and  in  the  defense  of  their 
country  against  Indians  and  French  thej  have 
been  good  soldiers. 

But  what  is  the  Virginian  lady  doing  all  this 
time  ?  It  is  not  hard  to  see,  when  one  thinks  of 
the  great  house,  the  many  servants,  the  hospitality 
shown  to  strangers,  and  the  absence  of  towns. 
She  is  a  home-keeping  body.  She  has  to  provide 
for  her  household,  and  as  she  cannot  go  shopping 
to  town,  she  must  keep  abundant  stores  of  every- 
thing she  needs.  Often  she  must  teach  her  chil- 
dren, for  very  likely  there  is  no  school  near  to 
which  she  can  send  them.  She  must  oversee  and 
train  her  servants,  and  set  one  to  spinning,  an- 
other to  mending,  and  another  to  sewing;  but 
she  does  not  find  it  easy  to  have  nice  work  done  ; 
her  black  slaves  are  seldom  skilled,  and  she  has 
to  send  to  England  for  her  finer  garments.  There 
is  110  doctor  near  at  hand,  and  she  must  try  her 
hand  at  prescribing  for  the  sick  on  the  plantation, 
and  must  nurse  white  and  black. 


20  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

In  truth,  the  Virginian  lady  saves  the  Old  Do- 
minion. If  it  were  not  for  her,  the  men  would 
be  rude  and  barbarous ;  but  they  treat  her  with 
unfailing  respect,  and  she  gives  the  gentleness  and 
grace  which  they  would  quickly  forget.  Early 
in  this  century  some  one  went  to  visit  an  old  Vir- 
ginian lady,  and  she  has  left  this  description  of 
what  she  saw :  — 

"  On  one  side  sits  the  chambermaid  with  her 
knitting ;  on  the  other,  a  little  colored  pet  learn- 
ing to  sew ;  an  old  decent  woman  is  there  with 
her  table  and  shears,  cutting  out  the  negroes'  win- 
ter  clothes ;  while  the  old  lady  directs  them  all, 
incessantly  knitting  herself.  She  points  out  to 
me  several  pair  of  nice  colored  stockings  and 
gloves  she  has  just  finished,  and  presents  me  with 
a  pair  half-done,  which  she  begs  I  will  finish  and 
wear  for  her  sake." 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  BOYHOOD  OF  WASHINGTON. 

THE  old  lady  thus  described  was  the  widow  of 
George  Washington,  and  so  little  had  life  in  Vir- 
ginia then  changed  from  what  it  had  been  in  1732, 
that  the  description  might  easily  stand  for  a  por- 
trait of  George  Washington's  mother.  Of  his 
father  he  remembered  little,  for  though  his  mothe* 
lived  long  after  he  had  grown  up  and  was  famous, 
his  father  died  when  the  boy  was  eleven  years  old. 

It  was  near  the  shore  of  the  Potomac  River, 
between  Pope's  Creek  and  Bridge's  Creek,  that 
Augustine  Washington  lived  when  his  son  George 
was  born.  The  land  had  been  in  the  family  ever 
since  Augustine's  grandfather,  John  Washington, 
had  bought  it,  when  he  came  over  from  England 
in  1657.  John  Washington  was  a  soldier  and  a 
public-spiiited  man,  and  so  the  parish  in  which 
he  lived  —  for  Virginia  was  divided  into  parishes 
as  some  other  colonies  into  townships  —  was  named 
Washington.  It  is  a  quiet  neighborhood ;  not  a 
sign  remains  of  the  old  house,  and  the  only  mark 
of  the  place  is  a  stone  slab,  broken  and  overgrown 
with  weeds  and  brambles,  which  lies  on  a  bed  of 


22  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

bricks  taken  from  the  remnants  of  the  old  chim- 
ney of  the  house.     It  bears  the  inscription :  — 

Here 

The  nth  of  February,  1732  (old  style) 

George  Wafhington 

was  born 

The  English  had  lately  agreed  to  use  the  calen- 
dar of  Pope  Gregory,  which  added  eleven  days  to 
the  reckoning,  but  people  still  used  the  old  style 
as  well  as  the  new.  By  the  new  style,  the  birth- 
day was  February  22,  and  that  is  the  day  which 
is  now  observed.  The  family  into  which  the  child 
was  born  consisted  of  the  father  and  mother,  Au- 
gustine and  Mary  Washington,  and  two  boys, 
ILawrence  and  Augustine.  These  were  sons  of 
Augustine  Washington  by  a  former  wife  who  had 
died  four  years  before.  George  Washington 
was  the  eldest  of  the  children  of  Augustine  and 
Mary  Washington  ;  he  had  afterward  three  broth- 
ers and  two  sisters,  but  one  of  the  sisters  died  in 
infancy. 

It  was  not  long  after  George  Washington's 
birth  that  the  house  in  which  he  was  born  was 
burned,  and  as  his  father  was  at  the  time  espe- 
cially interested  in  some  iron-works  at  a  distance, 
it  was  determined  not  to  rebuild  upon  the  lonely 
place.  Accordingly  Augustine  Washington  re- 
moved his  family  to  a  place  which  he  owned  in 
Stafford  County,  on  the  banks  of  the  Rappahan- 


THE  BOYHOOD  OF  WASHINGTON.  23 

nock  River  opposite  Fredericksburg.  The  house 
is  not  now  standing,  but  a  picture  was  made  of  it 
before  it  was  destroyed.  It  was,  like  many  Vir« 
ginia  houses  of  the  day,  divided  into  four  rooms 
on  a  floor,  and  had  great  outside  chimneys  at 
either  end. 

Here  George  Washington  spent  his  childhood. 
He  learned  to  read,  write,  and  cipher  at  a  small 
school  kept  by  Hobby,  the  sexton  of  the  parish 
church.  Among  his  playmates  was  Richard 
Henry  Lee,  who  was  afterward  a  famous  Virgin- 
ian. When  the  boys  grew  up,  they  wrote  to  each 
other  of  grave  matters  of  war  and  state,  but  here 
is  the  beginning  of  their  correspondence,  written 
when  they  were  nine  years  old  :  — 

"  RICHARD  HENRY  LEE  TO  GEORGE  WASHINGTON  : 

"  Pa  brought  me  two  pretty  books  full  of  pictures  he 
got  them  in  Alexandria  they  have  pictures  of  dogs  and 
cats  and  tigers  and  elefants  and  ever  so  many  pretty 
things  cousin  bids  me  send  you  one  of  them  it  has  a 
picture  of  an  elefant  and  a  little  Indian  boy  on  his 
back  like  uncle  jo's  sam  pa  says  if  I  learn  my  tasks 
good  he  will  let  uncle  jo  bring  me  to  see  you  will  you 
ask  your  ma  to  let  you  come  to  see  me. 

"  RICHARD  HENRY  LEE." 

"  GEORGE  WASHINGTON  TO  RICHARD  HENRY  LEE  : 

"  DEAR  DICKEY  I  thank  you  very  much  for  the 
pretty  picture-book  you  gave  me.  Sam  asked  me  to 
show  him  the  pictures  and  I  showed  him  all  the  pic- 


24  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

tures  in  it ;  and  I  read  to  him  how  the  tame  elephant 
took  care  of  the  master's  little  boy,  and  put  him  on  his 
back  and  would  not  let  anybody  touch  his  master's  lit- 
tle son.  I  can  read  three  or  four  pages  sometimes 
without  missing  a  word.  Ma  says  I  may  go  to  see  you, 
and  stay  all  day  with  you  next  week  if  it  be  not  rainy. 
She  says  I  may  ride  my  pony  Hero  if  Uncle  Ben  will 
go  with  me  and  lead  Hero.  I  have  a  little  piece  of 
poetry  about  the  picture  book  you  gave  me,  but  I 
must  n't  tell  you  who  wrote  the  poetry. 

"  '  G.  W.'s  compliments  to  R.  H.  L., 
And  likes  his  book  full  well, 
Henceforth  will  count  him  his  friend, 
And  hopes  many  happy  days  he  may  spend. 

"  Your  good  friend, 

"  GEOKGE  WASHINGTON. 

"  I  am  going  to  get  a  whip  top  soon,  and  you  may 
see  it  and  whip  it." * 

It  looks  very  much  as  if  Richard  Henry  sent 
his  letter  off  just  as  it  was  written.  I  suspect 
that  his  correspondent's  letter  was  looked  over, 
corrected,  and  copied  before  it  was  sent.  Very 
possibly  Augustine  Washington  was  absent  at 
the  time  on  one  of  his  journeys  ;  but  at  any  rate 
the  boy  owed  most  of  his  training  to  his  mother, 
for  only  two  years  after  this  his  father  died,  and 
he  was  left  to  his  mother's  care. 

She  was  a  woman  born  to  command,  and  since 
she  was  left  alone  with  a  family  and  an  estate  to 

1  From  B.  J.  Leasing  's  The  Home  of  Washington. 


THE  BOYHOOD   OF  WASHINGTON.  25 

care  for,  she  took  the  reins  into  her  own  hands, 
and  never  gave  them  up  to  any  one  else.  She 
used  to  drive  about  in  an  old-fashioned  open 
chaise,  visiting  the  various  parts  of  her  farm,  just 
as  a  planter  would  do  on  horseback.  The  story 
is  told  that  she  had  given  an  agent  directions  how 
to  do  a  piece  of  work,  and  he  had  seer  fit  to  co  it 
differently,  because  he  thought  his  way  a  better 
one.  He  showed  her  the  improvement. 

"  And  pray,"  said  the  lady,  "  who  gave  you  any 
exercise  of  judgment  in  the  matter  ?  I  command 
you,  sir;  there  is  nothing  left  for  you  but  to 
obey." 

In  those  days,  more  than  now,  a  boy  used  very 
formal  language  when  addressing  his  mother. 
He  might  love  her  warmly,  but  he  was  expected 
to  treat  her  with  a  great  show  of  respect.  When 
Washington  wrote  to  his  mother,  even  after  he 
was  of  age,  he  began  his  letter,  "  Honored 
Madam,"  and  signed  it,  "  Your  dutiful  son." 
This  was  a  part  of  the  manners  of  the  time.  It 
was  like  the  stiff  dress  which  men  wore  when  they 
paid  their  respects  to  others ;  it  was  put  on  for 
the  occasion,  and  one  would  have  been  thought 
very  unmannerly  who  did  not  make  a  marked  dif- 
ference between  his  every-day  dress  and  that 
which  he  wore  when  he  went  into  the  presence  of 
his  betters.  So  Washington,  when  he  wrote  to 
his  mother,  would  not  be  so  rude  as  to  say, "  Dear 
Mother." 


26  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

Such  habits  as  this  go  deeper  than  mere  forms 
of  speech.  I  do  not  suppose  that  the  sons  of  this 
lady  feared  her,  but  they  stood  in  awe  of  her, 
which  is  quite  a  different  thing. 

"  We  were  all  as  mute  as  mice,  when  in  her 
presence,"  says  one  of  Washington's  companions ; 
and  common  report  makes  her  to  have  been  very 
much  such  a  woman  as  her  son  afterward  was  a 
man. 

I  think  that  George  Washington  owed  two 
strong  traits  to  his  mother,  —  a  governing  spirit 
and  a  spirit  of  order  and  method.  She  taught 
him  many  lessons  and  gave  him  many  rules  ;  but, 
after  all,  it  was  her  character  shaping  his  which 
was  most  powerful.  She  taught  him  to  be  truth- 
ful, but  her  lessons  were  not  half  so  forcible  as 
her  own  truthfulness. 

There  is  a  story  told  of  George  Washington's 
boyhood  —  unfortunately  there  are  not  many  sto- 
ries—  which  is  to  the  point.  His  father  had 
taken  a  great  deal  of  pride  in  his  blooded  horses, 
and  his  mother  afterward  took  pains  to  keep  the 
stock  pure.  She  had  several  young  horses  that 
had  not  yet  been  broken,  and  one  of  them  in  par- 
ticular, a  sorrel,  was  extremely  spirited.  No  one 
had  been  able  to  do  anything  with  it,  and  it  was 
pronounced  thoroughly  vicious,  as  people  are  apt 
to  pronounce  horses  which  they  have  not  learned 
to  master.  George  was  determined  to  ride  this 
colt,  and  told  his  companions  that  if  they  would 
help  him  catch  it,  he  would  ride  and  tame  it. 


THE  BOYHOOD  OF  WASHINGTON.  27 

Early  in  the  morning  they  set  out  for  the  pas- 
ture, where  the  boys  managed  to  surround  the  sor- 
rel and  then  to  put  a  bit  into  its  mouth.  Wash- 
ington sprang  upon  its  back,  the  boys  dropped  the 
bridle,  and  away  flew  the  angry  animal.  Its 
rider  at  once  began  to  command;  the  horse  re- 
sisted, backing  about  the  field,  rearing  and  plung- 
ing. The  boys  became  thoroughly  alarmed,  but 
Washington  kept  his  seat,  never  once  losing  his 
self-control  or  his  mastery  of  the  colt.  The  strug- 
gle was  a  sharp  one ;  when  suddenly,  as  if  deter- 
mined to  rid  itself  of  its  rider,  the  creature  leaped 
into  the  air  with  a  tremendous  bound.  It  was  its 
last.  The  violence  burst  a  blood-vessel,  and  the 
noble  horse  fell  dead. 

Before  the  boys  could  sufficiently  recover  to 
consider  how  they  should  extricate  themselves  from 
the  scrape,  they  were  called  to  breakfast ;  and  the 
mistress  of  the  house,  knowing  that  they  had  been 
in  the  fields,  began  to  ask  after  her  stock. 

"  Pray,  young  gentlemen,"  said  she,  "  have  you 
seen  my  blooded  colts  in  your  rambles  ?  I  hope 
they  are  well  taken  care  of.  My  favorite,  I  am 
told,  is  as  large  as  his  sire." 

The  boys  looked  at  one  another,  and  no  one 
liked  to  speak.  Of  course  the  mother  repeated 
her  question. 

"The  sorrel  is  dead,  madam,"  said  her  son, 
"I  killed  him!" 

And  then  he  told  the  whole  story.     They  say 


28  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

that  his  mother  flushed  with  anger,  as  her  son 
often  used  to,  and  then,  like  him,  controlled  her- 
self, and  presently  said,  quietly :  — 

"It  is  well ;  but  while  I  regret  the  loss  of  my 
favorite,  I  rejoice  in  my  son  who  always  speaks 
the  truth." 

The  story  of  Washington's  killing  the  blooded 
colt  is  of  a  piece  with  other  stories  less  particular, 
which  show  that  he  was  a  very  athletic  fellow. 
Of  course,  when  a  boy  becomes  famous,  every  one 
likes  to  remember  the  wonderful  things  he  did  be- 
fore he  was  famous ;  and  Washington's  playmates, 
when  they  grew  up,  used  to  show  the  spot  by  the 
Rappahannock,  near  Fredericksburg,  where  he 
stood  and  threw  a  stone  to  the  opposite  bank  ;  and 
at  the  celebrated  Natural  Bridge,  the  arch  of 
which  is  two  hundred  feet  above  the  ground,  they 
always  tell  the  visitor  that  George  Washington 
threw  a  stone  in  the  air  the  whole  height.  He  un- 
doubtedly took  part  in  all  the  sports  which  were 
the  favorites  of  his  country  at  that  time  —  he 
pitched  heavy  bars,  tossed  quoits,  ran,  leaped,  and 
wrestled ;  for  he  was  a  powerful,  large-limbed 
young  fellow,  and  he  had  a  very  large  and  strong 
hand. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SCHOOL-DAYS. 

THE  story  of  George  Washington's  struggle 
with  the  colt  must  belong  to  his  older  boyhood, 
when  he  was  at  home  on  a  vacation  ;  for  we  have 
seen  that  he  had  to  have  his  pony  led  when  he  was 
nine  years  old  ;  and  after  his  father's  death,  which 
occurred  when  he  was  eleven,  he  went  away  to 
school.  When  Augustine  Washington  died,  he 
divided  his  several  estates  among  his  children ; 
but  his  widow  was  to  have  the  oversight  of  the 
portions  left  to  the  younger  children  until  they 
should  come  of  age.  Lawrence  Washington  re- 
ceived an  estate  called  Hunting  Creek,  located 
near  a  stream  of  the  same  name  which  flowed 
into  the  Potomac;  and  Augustine,  his  brother, 
received  the  old  homestead  near  Bridge's  Creek  ; 
the  mother  and  younger  children  continued  to  live 
near  Fredericksburg. 

Both  Lawrence  and  Augustine  Washington 
married  soon  after  their  father's  death,  and  as 
there  chanced  to  be  a  good  school  near  Bridge's 
Creek,  George  Washington  now  made  his  home 
with  his  brother  Augustine,  staying  with  him  till 
he  was  nearly  sixteen  years  old. 


30  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

He  was  to  be,  like  his  father,  a  Virginian 
planter  ;  and  I  suppose  that  had  something  to  do 
with  the  kind  of  training  which  Mr.  Williams,  the 
schoolmaster  at  Bridge's  Creek,  gave  him.  At 
any  rate,  it  is  easy  to  see  what  he  studied.  Most 
boys'  copy-books  and  exercise-books  are  early  de- 
stroyed, but  it  chances  that  those  of  George  Wash- 
ington have  been  kept,  and  they  are  very  interest- 
ing. The  handwriting  in  them  is  the  first  thing 
to  be  noticed,  —  round,  fair,  and  bold,  the  letters 
large  like  the  hand  that  formed  them,  and  the 
lines  running  straight  and  even.  In  the  arith- 
metics and  book-keeping  manuals  which  we  study 
at  school,  there  are  printed  forms  of  receipts,  bills, 
and  other  ordinary  business  papers :  but  in  Wash- 
ington's school-days,  the  teacher  probably  showed 
the  boys  how  to  draw  these  up,  and  gave  them, 
also,  copies  of  longer  papers,  like  leases,  deeds,  and 
wills.  There  were  few  lawyers  in  the  colony,  and 
every  gentleman  was  expected  to  know  many 
forms  of  documents  which  in  these  days  are  left 
to  our  lawyers. 

Washington's  exercise-books  have  many  pages 
of  these  forms,  written  out  carefully  by  the  boy. 
Sometimes  he  made  ornamental  letters,  such  as 
clerks  were  wont  to  use  in  drawing  up  such  pa- 
pers. This  was  not  merely  exercise  in  penman- 
ship ;  it  was  practice  work  in  all  that  careful 
keeping  of  accounts  and  those  business  methods 
which  were  sure  to  be  needed  by  one  who  had  to 


SCHOOL-DATS.  31 

manage  a  great  plantation.  George  Washington 
was  to  manage  something  greater,  though  he  did 
not  then  know  it ;  and  the  habits  which  he  formed 
at  this  time  were  of  inestimable  value  to  him  in 
his  manhood. 

The  manuscript  book  which  contains  these  exer- 
cises has  also  a  list  of  a  hundred  and  ten  "  Rules 
of  Civility  and  Decent  Behavior  in  Company  and 
Conversation."  Probably  they  were  not  made  up 
by  the  boy,  but  copied  from  some  book  or  taken 
down  from  the  lips  of  his  mother  or  teacher. 
They  sound  rather  stiff  to  us,  and  we  should  be 
likely  to  think  the  boy  a  prig  who  attempted  to  be 
governed  by  them  ;  but  it  was  a  common  thing  in 
those  days  to  set  such  rules  before  children,  and 
George  Washington,  with  his  liking  for  regular, 
orderly  ways  —  which  is  evident  in  his  handwrit- 
ing —  probably  used  the  rules  and  perhaps  com- 
mitted them  to  memory,  to  secure  an  even  temper 
and  self-control.  Here  are  a  few  of  them  :  — 

"Every  action  in  company  ought  to  be  with 
some  sign  of  respect  to  those  present. 

"  When  you  meet  with  one  of  greater  quality 
than  yourself,  stop  and  retire,  especially  if  it  be  at  y 
a  door  or  any  strait  place,  to  give  way  for  him  to 
pass. 

"  They  that  are  in  dignity  or  in  office  have  in 
all  places  precedency  ;  but  whilst  they  are  young, 
they  ought  to  respect  those  that  are  their  equals 


32  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

in  birth  or  other  qualities,  though  they  have  no 
public  charge. 

"  Strive  not  with  your  superiors  in  argument, 
but  always  submit  your  judgment  to  others  with 
modesty. 

"  Be  not  hasty  to  believe  flying  reports  to  the 
disparagement  of  any. 

"  Take  all  admonitions  thankfully,  in  what  time 
or  place  soever  given ;  but  afterwards,  not  being 
culpable,  take  a  time  or  place  convenient  to  let 
him  know  it  that  gave  them. 

"  Think  before  you  speak ;  pronounce  not  im- 
perfectly, nor  bring  out  your  words  too  hastily, 
but  orderly  and  distinctly. 

"  Speak  not  evil  of  the  absent,  for  it  is  unjust. 

"  Make  no  show  of  taking  great  delight  in  your 
victuals  ;  feed  not  with  greediness ;  cut  your  bread 
with  a  knife ;  lean  not  on  the  table  ;  neither  find 
fault  with  what  you  eat. 

"  Be  not  angry  at  table,  whatever  happens,  and 
if  you  have  reason  to  be  so,  show  it  not ;  put  on  a 
cheerful  countenance,  especially  if  there  be  stran- 
gers, for  good  humor  makes  one  dish  of  meat  a 
feast. 

"  Let  your  recreations  be  manful,  not  sinful. 

"  Labor  to  keep  alive  in  your  breast  that  little 
spark  of  celestial  fire  called  conscience." 

These  are  not  unwise  rules ;  they  touch  on 
things  great  and  small.  The  difficulty  with  most 


SCHOOL-DATS.  33 

boys  would  be  to  follow  a  hundred  and  ten  of 
them.  They  serve,  however,  to  show  what  was 
the  standard  of  good  manners  and  morals  among 
those  who  had  the  training  of  George  Washington. 
But,  after  all,  the  best  of  rules  would  have  done 
little  with  poor  stuff ;  it  was  because  this  boy  had 
a  manly  and  honorable  spirit  that  he  could  be 
trained  in  manly  and  honorable  ways.  He  was  a 
passionate  but  not  a  vicious  boy,  and  so,  since  his 
passion  was  kept  under  control,  he  was  all  the 
stronger  for  it.  The  boy  that  could  throw  a  stone 
across  the  Rappahannock  was  taught  to  be  gentle, 
and  not  violent ;  the  tamer  of  the  blooded  sorrel 
colt  controlled  himself,  and  that  was  the  reason 
he  could  control  his  horse. 

With  all  his  strength  and  agility,  George 
Washington  was  a  generous  and  fair-minded  boy  ; 
otherwise  he  would  not  have  been  chosen,  as  he 
often  was,  to  settle  the  disputes  of  his  companions. 
He  was  a  natural  leader.  In  his  boyhood  there 
was  plenty  of  talk  of  war.  What  is  known  as 
King  George's  War  had  just  broken  out  between 
the  English  and  the  French ;  and  there  were  al- 
ways stories  of  fights  with  the  Indians  in  the  back 
settlements.  It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  boys 
should  play  at  fighting,  and  George  Washington 
had  his  small  military  company,  which  he  drilled 
and  manoeuvred. 

Besides,  his  brother  Lawrence  had  been  a  sol- 


84  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

dier,  and  he  must  have  heard  many  tales  of  war 
when  he  visited  him.  Thus  it  came  about  that  he 
was  for  throwing  his  books  aside  and  entering  His 
Majesty's  service.  He  was,  however,  too  young 
for  the  army  —  he  was  only  fifteen  ;  but  Lawrence 
Washington  encouraged  him,  and  as  he  knew 
many  officers  in  the  navy,  he  had  no  difficulty  in 
obtaining  for  his  young  brother  a  warrant  as  mid- 
shipman in  the  navy. 

It  is  said  that  the  young  middy's  luggage  was 
on  board  a  man-of-war  anchored  in  the  Potomac, 
when  Madam  Washington,  who  had  all  along 
been  reluctant  to  have  her  son  go  to  sea,  now  de- 
clared finally  that  she  could  not  give  her  consent 
to  the  scheme.  He  was  still  young  and  at  school ; 
perhaps,  also,  this  Virginian  lady,  living  in  a 
country  where  the  people  were  not  much  used  to 
the  sea,  looked  with  concern  at  a  profession  which 
would  take  her  oldest  boy  into  all  the  perils  of  the 
ocean.  The  influence  which  finally  decided  her 
to  refuse  her  consent  is  said  to  have  been  this 
letter,  which  she  received  from  her  brother,  then 
in  England :  — 

"  I  understand  that  you  are  advised,  and  have  some 
thoughts  of  putting  your  son  George  to  sea.  I  think 
he  had  better  be  put  apprentice  to  a  tinker,  for  a  com- 
mon sailor  before  the  mast  has  by  no  means  the  com- 
mon liberty  °f  the  subject ;  for  they  will  press  him  from 
a  ship  where  he  has  fifty  shillings  a  month,  and  make 
him  take  twenty-three,  and  cut  and  slash,  and  use 


SCHOOL-DAYS.  35 

like  a  negro,  or  rather  like  a  dog.  And,  as  to  any  con- 
siderable preferment  in  the  navy,  it  is  not  to  be  ex- 
pected, as  there  are  always  so  many  gaping  for  it  here 
who  have  interest,  and  he  has  none.  And  if  he  should 
get  to  be  master  of  a  Virginia  ship  (which  is  very  diffi- 
cult to  do),  a  planter  that  has  three  or  four  hundred 
acres  of  land,  and  three  or  four  slaves,  if  he  be  indus- 
trious, may  live  more  comfortably,  and  leave  his  family 
in  better  bread,  than  such  a  master  of  a  ship  can." 

It  seems  possible  from  this  letter  that  the  plan 
was  to  put  George  into  the  navy  that  he  might  come 
to  command  a  merchant  ship  ;  but  however  that 
may  be,  the  plan  was  given  up,  and  the  boy  went 
back  to  school  for  another  year.  During  that 
time  he  applied  himself  especially  to  the  study  of 
surveying.  In  a  country  of  great  estates,  and 
with  a  new,  almost  unexplored  territory  coming 
into  the  hands  of  planters,  surveying  was  a  very 
important  occupation.  George  Washington,  with 
his  love  of  exactness  and  regularity,  his  orderly 
ways  and  his  liking  for  outdoor  life,  was  greatly 
attracted  by  the  art.  Five  or  six  years  must 
elapse  before  he  could  come  into  possession  of  the 
property  which  his  father  had  left  him ;  his 
mother  was  living  on  it  and  managing  it.  Mean- 
while, the  work  of  surveying  land  would  give  him 
plenty  of  occupation,  and  bring  him  in  money;  so 
he  studied  geometry  and  trigonometry  ;  he  made 
calculations,  and  he  surveyed  all  the  fields  about 
the  school-house,  plotting  them  and  setting  down 
everything  with  great  exactness. 


36  GEORGE    WASHINGTON. 

I  wonder  if  his  sudden  diligence  in  study  and 
outdoor  work  was  due  at  all  to  an  affair  which 
happened  about  this  time.  He  was  a  tall,  large- 
limbed,  shy  boy  of  fifteen  when  he  fell  in  love 
with  a  girl  whom  he  seems  to  have  met  when  liv- 
ing with  his  brother  Augustine.  He  calls  her,  in 
one  of  his  letters  afterward,  a  "  lowland  beauty," 
and  tradition  makes  her  to  have  been  a  Miss 
Grimes,  who  later  married,  and  was  the  mother  of 
one  of  the  young  soldiers  who  served  under  Wash- 
ington in  the  War  for  Independence.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  exact  reason  that  his  love  af- 
fair did  not  prosper  —  whether  he  was  too  shy  to 
make  his  mind  known,  or  so  silent  as  not  to  show 
himself  to  advantage,  or  so  discreet  with  grave 
demeanor  as  to  hold  himself  too  long  in  reserve,  it 
is  impossible  now  to  say ;  but  I  suspect  that  one 
effect  was  to  make  him  work  the  harder.  Sensi- 
ble people  do  not  expect  boys  of  fifteen  to  be 
playing  the  lover ;  and  George  Washington  was 
old  for  his  years,  and  not  likely  to  appear  in  the 
role  of  a  spooney. 


'. 


CHAPTER  V. 

MOUNT  VEBNON  AND  BELVOIR. 

ALTHOUGH,  after  his  father's  death,  George 
Washington  went  to  live  with  his  brother  Augus- 
tine for  the  sake  of  going  to  Mr.  Williams's  school, 
he  was  especially  under  the  care  of  his  eldest 
brother.  Lawrence  Washington,  like  other  oldest 
sons  of  Virginia  planters,  was  sent  to  England  to 
be  educated.  After  his  return  to  America,  there 
was  war  between  England  and  Spain,  and  Ad- 
miral Vernon  of  the  English  navy  captured  one 
of  the  Spanish  towns  in  the  West  Indies.  The 
people  in  the  American  colonies  looked  upon  the 
West  Indies  somewhat  differently  from  the  way 
in  which  we  regard  them  at  present.  Not  only 
were  the  islands  on  the  map  of  America,  but  like 
the  colonies,  some  of  them  were  a  part  of  the 
British  possessions.  A  brisk  trade  was  kept  up 
between  them  and  the  mainland  ;  and  indeed, 
the  Bermudas  were  once  within  the  bounds  of 
Virginia. 

So,  when  Admiral  Vernon  needed  reinforce- 
ments, he  very  naturally  looked  to  the  colonies 
close  at  hand.  A  regiment  was  to  be  raised  and 
sent  out  to  Jamaica  as  part  of  the  British  forces. 


88  GEORGE  WASHINGTON". 

Lawrence  Washington,  who  was  a  spirited  young 
fellow,  obtained  a  commission  as  captain  in  a 
company  of  this  regiment,  and  went  to  the  West 
Indies,  where  he  fought  bravely  in  the  engage- 
ments which  followed.  When  the  war  was  over 
he  returned  to  Virginia,  so  in  love  with  his  new 
profession  that  he  determined  to  go  to  England, 
with  the  regiment  to  which  his  company  was  at- 
tached, and  to  continue  as  a  soldier  in  His  Majes- 
ty's service. 

Just  then  there  happened  two  events  which 
changed  his  plans  and  perhaps  prevented  him  from 
some  day  fighting  against  an  army  commanded  by 
his  younger  brother.  He  fell  in  love  with  Anne 
Fairfax,  and  before  they  were  married  his  father 
died.  This  left  his  mother  alone  with  the  care  of 
a  young  family,  and  made  him  also  at  once  the 
owner  of  a  larger  estate.  His  father,  as  I  have 
said,  bequeathed  to  him  Hunting  Creek,  and 
there,  after  his  marriage,  he  went  to  live,  as  a 
planter,  like  his  father  before  him.  For  the  time, 
at  any  rate,  he  laid  aside  his  sword,  but  he  kept 
up  his  friendship  with  officers  of  the  army  and  the 
navy ;  and  out  of  admiration  for  the  admiral  un- 
der whom  he  had  served,  he  changed  the  name  of 
his  estate  from  Hunting  Creek  to  Mount  Vernon. 

The  house  which  Lawrence  Washington  built 
was  after  the  pattern  of  many  Virginian  houses  of 
the  day,  —  two  stories  in  height,  with  a  porch  run- 
ning along  the  front,  but  with  its  two  chimneys, 


MOUNT  VERNON  AND  BELVOIR.  39 

one  at  each  end,  built  inside  instead  of  outside. 
Possibly  this  was  a  notion  which  Lawrence  Wash- 
ington brought  with  him  from  England  ;  perhaps 
he  did  it  to  please  his  English  bride.  The  site 
which  he  chose  was  a  pleasant  one,  upon  a  swell- 
ing ridge,  wooded  in  many  places,  and  high  above 
the  Potomac,  which  swept  in  great  curves  above 
and  below,  almost  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see. 
Beyond,  on  the  other  side,  were  the  Maryland 
fields  and  woods. 

A  few  miles  below  Mount  Vernon  was  another 
plantation,  named  Belvoir,  and  it  was  here  that 
William  Fairfax  lived,  whose  daughter  Anne  had 
married  Lawrence  Washington.  Fairfax  also  had 
been  an  officer  in  the  English  army,  and  at  one 
time  had  been  governor  of  one  of  the  Bahama  Isl- 
ands. Now  he  had  settled  in  Virginia,  where  his 
family  had  large  landed  possessions. 

He  was  a  man  of  education  and  wealth,  and  he 
had  been  accustomed  to  plenty  of  society.  He 
had  no  mind  to  bury  himself  in  the  backwoods  of 
Virginia,  and  with  his  grown-up  sons  and  daugh- 
ters about  him,  he  made  his  house  the  centre  of 
gayety.  It  was  more  richly  furnished  than  most 
of  the  houses  of  the  Virginia  planters.  The  floors 
were  covered  with  carpets,  a  great  luxury  in  those 
days  ;  the  rooms  were  lighted  with  wax  candles  ; 
and  he  had  costly  wines  in  his  cellars.  Servants 
in  livery  moved  about  to  wait  on  the  guests,  and 
Virginia  gentlemen  and  ladies  flocked  to  Belvoir. 


40  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

The  master  of  the  house  was  an  officer  of  the 
king,  for  he  was  collector  of  customs  for  the  col- 
ony and  president  of  the  governor's  council. 
British  men-of-war  sailed  up  the  Potomac  and  an- 
chored in  the  stream,  and  the  officers  came  ashore 
to  be  entertained  by  the  Honorable  William  Fair- 
fax. 

The  nearness  of  Mount  Vernon  and  the  close 
connection  between  the  two  families  led  to  con- 
stant passage  between  the  places.  The  guests  of 
one  were  the  guests  of  the  other,  and  George 
Washington,  coming  to  visit  his  brother  Law- 
rence, was  made  at  home  at  Belvoir  also.  He  was 
a  reserved,  shy,  awkward  schoolboy.  He  was 
only  fifteen  when  he  was  thrown  into  the  gay 
society  there,  but  he  was  tall,  large-limbed,  and 
altogether  much  older  and  graver  than  his  years 
would  seem  to  indicate.  He  took  his  place  among 
the  men  in  sports  and  hunting,  and  though  he  was 
silent  and  not  very  lively  in  his  manner,  there  was 
something  in  his  serious,  strong  face  which  made 
him  a  favorite  among  the  ladies. 

He  met  at  Belvoir  William  Fairfax's  son, 
George  William,  who  had  recently  come  home 
from  England,  and  was  just  married.  He  was 
six  years  older  than  George  Washington,  but  that 
did  not  prevent  them  from  striking  up  a  warm 
friendship,  which  continued  through  life.  The 
young  bride  had  a  sister  with  her,  and  this  lively 
girl,  Miss  Gary,  teased  and  played  with  the  big, 


MOUNT  VERNON  AND  BELVOIR.  41 

overgrown  schoolboy.  I  do  not  believe  he  told  her 
what  he  wrote  to  one  of  his  boy  friends,  —  that  he 
would  have  passed  his  time  very  pleasantly  if  all 
this  merriment  and  young  society  had  not  kept 
him  constantly  thinking  of  his  "  lowland  beauty," 
and  wishing  himself  with  her ! 

But  his  most  notable  friend  was  Thomas,  sixth 
Lord  Fairfax,  who  was  at  this  time  staying  at 
Belvoir.1  He  had  been  a  brilliant  young  man,  of 
university  education,  an  officer  in  a  famous  regi- 
ment, and  at  home  in  the  fashionable  and  literary 
world  of  London.  But  he  had  suffered  two  terri- 
ble disappointments.  His  mother  and  his  grand- 
mother, when  he  was  a  boy,  had  so  misused  the 
property  which  descended  to  him  from  the  Fair- 
faxes that  when  he  came  of  age  it  had  been 
largely  lost.  Then,  later  on,  just  as  he  was  about 
to  be  married  to  a  fine  lady,  she  discovered  that 
she  could  have  a  duke  instead,  and  so  broke  the 
engagement  and  threw  Lord  Fairfax  aside. 

It  chanced  that  his  mother  had  all  this  while 
an  immense  property  in  Virginia,  nearly  a  fifth  of 
the  present  State,  which  the  good-natured  King 
Charles  the  Second  had  given  to  her.  This  was 
now  Lord  Fairfax's,  and  he  had  appointed  his 
cousin,  "William  Fairfax,  his  agent  to  look  after  it. 
So,  when  he  found  all  London  pitying  him  or 

1  He  was  of  the  family  of  the  famous  Thomas,  third  Lord  Fair- 
fax, who  lived  in  Cromwell's  day,  and  was  the  head  of  that 
house  of  fighters  who  took  first  the  side  of  Parliament  and  after- 
ward the  side  of  the  King. 


42  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

smiling  at  him  behind  his  back,  he  left  England 
to  visit  his  American  estate.  That  had  occurred 
eight  years  before  George  Washington's  visit  to 
Belvoir.  And  now  Lord  Fairfax  was  back  again, 
for  his  taste  of  Virginian  life  had  so  charmed  him 
that  he  had  determined  to  turn  his  back  on  Lon- 
don and  plunge  again  into  the  wilderness  of  the 
New  World. 

He  was  at  this  time  nearly  sixty  years  of  age, 
gaunt  and  grizzled  in  appearance,  and  eccentric  in 
many  of  his  ways  ;  but  people  generally  laid  that 
to  the  disappointments  which  he  had  met.  He 
was  the  great  man  at  Belvoir ;  the  younger  people 
looked  with  admiration  upon  the  fine -mannered 
gentleman  who  had  been  at  court,  who  knew 
Steele  and  Addison  and  other  men  of  letters,  and 
had  now  come  out  into  the  backwoods  to  live  upon 
his  vast  estate,  the  greatest  in  all  Virginia. 

His  lordship,  meanwhile,  cared  little  for  the  gay 
society  which  gathered  at  Belvoir ;  he  was  courtly 
to  the  ladies  but  they  saw  little  of  him.  He  liked 
best  the  free,  out-of-doors  life  in  the  woods  and 
the  excitement  of  the  hunt.  It  was  this  that  had 
pleased  him  when  he  first  visited  Virginia,  and 
that  now  had  brought  him  back  for  the  rest  of  his 
life.  It  was  not  strange,  therefore,  that  a  friend- 
ship should  spring  up  between  him  and  the  talL 
grave  lad,  who  was  so  strong  in  limb,  who  sat  his 
horse  so  firmly  and  rode  after  the  hounds  so  well. 
They  hunted  together,  and  the  older  man  came  to 


MOUNT  VERNON  AND  BELV01R.  43 

know  familiarly  and  like  the  strong  young  Ameri- 
can, George  Washington. 

What  if,  in  the  still  night,  as  they  sat  over  their 
camp  fire,  the  shy  boy  had  told  his  gaunt,  grizzled 
friend  the  secret  of  the  trouble  which  kept  him 
constrained  and  silent  in  the  midst  of  the  bright 
company  at  Belvoir !  I  fancy  this  same  friend, 
schooled  in  Old  World  experiences  and  disap- 
pointments, knew  how  to  receive  this  fresh  con- 
fidence. 

Out  of  this  friendship  came  a  very  practical  ad- 
vantage. Neither  Lord  Fairfax  nor  his  cousin 
William  knew  the  bounds  and  extent  of  the  lands 
beyond  the  Blue  Ridge,  which  formed  an  impor- 
tant part  of  his  lordship's  domain.  Moreover, 
rumors  came  that  persons  from  the  northward  had 
found  out  the  value  of  these  lands,  and  that  one 
and  another  had  settled  upon  them  without  asking 
leave  or  troubling  themselves  about  Lord  Fairfax's 
title.  At  that  time  the  government  had  done  very 
little  toward  surveying  the  country  which  lay  be- 
yond the  borders  of  population.  It  was  left  to  any 
one  who  claimed  such  land  to  find  out  exactly 
where  it  was,  and  of  what  it  consisted. 

Lord  Fairfax  therefore  determined  to  have  his 
property  surveyed,  and  he  gave  the  commission  to 
his  young  friend  George  Washington,  who  had 
shown  not  only  that  he  knew  how  to  do  the  tech- 
nical work,  but  that  he  had  those  qualities  of 
courage,  endurance,  and  perseverance  which  were 


44  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

necessary.  The  young  surveyor  had  just  passed 
his  sixteenth  birthday,  but,  as  I  have  said,  he  was 
so  serious  and  self-possessed  that  his  companions 
did  not  treat  him  as  a  real  boy.  He  did  not  go 
alone,  for  his  friend  George  William  Fairfax  went 
with  him.  As  the  older  of  the  two,  and  bearing 
the  name  of  Fairfax,  he  was  the  head  of  the  ex- 
pedition, but  the  special  work  of  surveying  was  to 
be  done  by  George  Washington. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  YOUNG  SURVEYOR 

IT  was  in  March,  1748,  just  a  month  after 
George  Washington  was  sixteen  years  old,  that 
the  two  young  men  set  out  on  their  errand.  They 
were  only  absent  four  or  five  weeks,  but  it  was  a 
sudden  and  rough  initiation  into  hard  life.  They 
were  mounted,  and  crossed  the  Blue  Ridge  by 
Ashby's  Gap,  entering  the  Shenandoah  Valley  and 
making  their  first  important  halt  at  a  spot  known 
as  Lord  Fairfax's  Quarters.  The  term  "quar- 
ters "  was  usually  applied  at  that  time  to  the  part 
of  a  plantation  where  the  negro  slaves  lived. 
Here,  in  a  lonely  region  near  the  river,  about 
twelve  miles  south  of  the  present  town  of  Win- 
chester, Lord  Fairfax's  overseer  had  charge  of  a 
number  of  slaves  who  were  cultivating  the  ground. 

The  next  day  after  reaching  this  place,  the 
young  surveyor  and  his  companion  sent  their  bag- 
gage forward  to  a  Captain  Kite's,  and  followed 
more  slowly,  working  as  they  went  at  their  task 
of  laying  off  land.  At  the  end  of  a  hard  day  they 
had  supper,  and  were  ready  for  bed.  As  young 
gentlemen,  they  were  shown  into  a  chamber,  and 


46  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

Washington,  who  had  known  nothing  of  frontier 
life,  proceeded  as  at  home.  He  stripped  himself 
very  orderly,  he  says  in  the  diary  which  he  kept, 
and  went  to  bed.  What  was  his  dismay,  instead 
of  finding  a  comfortable  bed  like  that  to  which  he 
was  used,  to  discover  nothing  but  a  little  dirty 
straw,  "  without  sheet  or  anything  else,  but  only 
one  threadbare  blanket,  with  double  its  weight  of 
vermin."  He  was  glad  to  be  out  of  it,  and  to 
dress  himself  and  sleep  in  his  clothes  like  his  com- 
panions. After  that,  he  knew  better  how  to  man- 
age, and  lay  wrapped  before  the  fire,  especially 
glad  when  the  fire  was  out-of-doors  and  the  blue 
sky  overhead  formed  the  counterpane  of  his  bed. 

The  party  followed  the  Shenandoah  to  its  junc- 
tion with  the  Potomac,  and  then  ascended  that 
river  and  went  some  seventy  miles  up  the  South 
Branch,  returning  over  the  mountains.  They 
were  harc^  at  work  at  the  business  of  surveying, 
but  had  plenty  of  adventure  besides.  They 
camped  out  in  the  midst  of  wild  storms ;  they 
swam  their  horses  over  swollen  streams ;  they  shot 
deer  and  wild  turkeys ;  they  visited  one  of  His 
Majesty's  justices  of  the  peace,  as  Washington 
takes  pains  to  note.  He  invited  them  to  supper, 
but  expected  them  to  eat  it  with  their  hunting- 
knives,  for  he  had  neither  knife  nor  fork  on  his 
table  ;  and  when  they  were  near  no  house  they 
prepared  their  own  suppers,  using  forked  sticks 
for  spits,  and  chips  for  plates. 


THE   TO  UNO  SURVEYOR.  47 

At  one  place  they  had  the  good  luck  to  be  on 
hand  when  thirty  Indians  who  had  been  on  the 
war-path  came  in.  "We  had  some  liquor  with 
us,"  Washington  says,  "  of  which  we  gave  them  a 
part.  This  elevating  their  spirits,  put  them  in 
the  humor  of  dancing."  So  they  had  a  grand 
war-dance,  to  the  music  of  a  native  band  which 
consisted  of  two  pieces,  —  a  pot  half  full  of  water, 
over  which  a  deer-skin  was  stretched,  and  a  gourd 
with  some  shot  in  it  used  as  a  rattle. 

This  month  of  roughing  it  was  a  novelty  to  the 
young  Virginian.  He  was  used  to  living  with 
gentlemen,  and  he  shrank  a  little  from  the  dis- 
comforts which  he  met.  He  saw  the  rude  life  of 
the  new  settlers,  and  heard  them  jabbering  in  the 
German  tongue,  which  he  could  not  understand. 
It  was  a  stormy,  cold  month,  one  of  the  hardest  of 
the  year  in  which  to  lead  an  outdoor  life.  Still, 
he  was  earning  his  living,  and  that  made  it  toler- 
able. He  was  paid  according  to  the  amount  of 
work  he  did,  and  sometimes  he  was  able  to  earn 
as  much  as  twenty  dollars  in  a  day. 

Washington  kept  a  brief  diary  while  he  was  on 
the  excursion,  and  very  likely  he  showed  it  to 
Lord  Fairfax  on  his  return;  at  any  rate,  he  gave 
him  an  account  of  his  adventures,  and  no  doubt 
expanded  the  entry  at  the  beginning  of  the  diary, 
where  he  writes :  "  Rode  to  his  Lordship's  quarters, 
about  four  miles  higher  up  the  river  Shenandoah. 
We  went  through  most  beautiful  groves  of  sugar- 


48  GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

trees,  and  spent  the  best  part  of  the  day  in  admir- 
ing the  trees  and  the  richness  of  the  land."  Very 
likely  Lord  Fairfax  had  himself  visited  his  quar- 
ters before  this,  but  I  think  he  must  have  been 
further  stirred  by  the  reports  which  Washington 
brought  of  the  country,  for  not  long  after  he  went 
to  live  there. 

The  place  known  as  Lord  Fairfax's  Quarters,  he 
now  called  Green  way  Court,  and  he  hoped  to  build 
a  great  manor-house  in  which  he  should  live,  after 
the  style  of  an  English  earl,  surrounded  by  his 
tenants  and  servants.  He  never  built  more  than 
a  house  for  his  steward,  however.  It  was  a  long 
story-and-a-half  limestone  building,  the  roof  slop- 
ing forward  so  as  to  form  a  cover  for  the  veranda, 
which  ran  the  whole  length  of  the  house.  The 
great  Virginia  outside  chimneys  were  the  homes 
of  martins  and  swallows,  and  the  house  itself  shel- 
tered the  steward  and  such  chance  guests  as  came 
into  the  wilderness.  Upon  the  roof  were  two 
wooden  belfries ;  the  bells  were  to  call  the  slaves 
to  work,  or  to  sound  an  alarm  in  case  of  an  attack 
by  Indians. 

Lord  Fairfax  built  for  his  private  lodging  a 
rough  cabin  only  about  twelve  feet  square,  a  short 
distance  from  the  larger  building.  Here  he  lived 
the  rest  of  his  days.  Upon  racks  on  the  walls 
were  his  guns,  and  close  at  hand  choice  books 
with  which  he  kept  alive  hi&  old  taste  for  litera- 
ture. His  hounds  walked  in  and  out ;  and  hither, 


THE   YOUNG  SURVEYOR.  49 

too,  came  backwoodsmen  and  Indians.  He  spent 
his  time  hunting  and  apportioning  his  great  es- 
tate amongst  the  settlers,  fixing  boundary  lines, 
making  out  leases,  and  arranging  settlements  with 
his  tenants.  He  gave  freely  to  all  who  came,  but 
his  own  life  was  plain  and  simple.  He  kept  up, 
however,  in  a  curious  way,  his  old  relation  with 
the  fine  world  of  London  ;  for,  though  he  dressed 
as  a  hunter,  and  almost  as  a  backwoodsman,  he 
sent  every  year  to  London  for  new  suits  of  clothes 
of  the  most  fashionable  sort. 

I  suppose  this  was  in  part  to  enable  him  to  ap- 
pear in  proper  dress  when  he  went  to  his  friends' 
plantations  ;  but  perhaps  also  he  wished  to  re- 
mind himself  that  he  was  still  an  English  gentle- 
man, and  might,  whenever  he  chose,  go  back  to 
the  Old  World.  But  he  never  did  go.  He  lived 
to  see  his  young  friend  become  general  of  the  army 
raised  to  defend  the  colonies  against  the  unlaw- 
ful use  of  authority  by  the  British  crown.  Lord 
Fairfax  never  believed  it  unlawful ;  but  he  was  an 
old  man  ;  he  took  no  part  in  the  struggle,  but  he 
lived  to  hear  of  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  and 
the  downfall  of  the  British  power  in  the  colonies  ; 
he  received  messages  of  love  from  the  victorious 
general  whom  he  had  first  started  in  the  world  ; 
and  he  died  soon  after  —  on  December  12,  1781 
• —  ninety  years  old. 

It  was  this  commission  from  Lord  Fairfax  to 
survey  iris  lands  which  made  the  beginning  of 


60  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

Washington's  public  life.  His  satisfactory  execu- 
tion of  the  task  brought  him  an  appointment  from 
the  governor  as  public  surveyor.  This  meant 
that,  when  he  made  surveys,  he  could  record  them 
in  the  regular  office  of  the  county,  and  they  would 
stand  as  authority  if  land  were  bought  and  sold. 
For  three  years  now,  he  devoted  himself  to  this 
pursuit,  spending  all  but  the  winter  months,  when 
he  could  not  well  carry  on  field  work,  in  laying 
out  tracts  of  land  up  and  down  the  Shenandoah 
Valley  and  along  the  Potomac. 

A  great  deal  depended  on  the  accuracy  of  sur- 
veys ;  for  if  the  surveyor  made  mistakes,  he  would 
be  very  likely  to  involve  the  persons  whose  land 
he  surveyed  in  endless  quarrels  and  lawsuits. 
People  soon  found  out  that  Washington  made  no 
mistakes,  and  he  had  his  hands  full.  Years  after- 
ward, a  lawyer  who  had  a  great  deal  of  business 
with  land  -  titles  in  the  new  Virginia  country  de- 
clared that  the  only  surveys  on  which  he  could  de- 
pend were  those  of  Washington. 

The  young  surveyor,  by  his  familiarity  with  the 
country,  learned  where  the  best  lands  lay,  and  he 
was  quick  to  take  advantage  of  the  knowledge,  so 
that  many  fine  sections  were  taken  up  by  him  and 
others  of  his  family  and  connections.  He  saw 
what  splendid  prospects  the  wilderness  held  out, 
and  by  contact  with  the  backwoodsmen  and  the 
Indians,  he  laid  the  foundation  of  that  broad 
knowledge  of  men  and  woodcraft  which  stood  him 


TEE    YOUNG  SURVEYOR.  51 

in  such  good  stead  afterward.  He  must  have 
seemed  almost  like  one  of  the  Indians  themselves, 
as  he  stood,  grave  and  silent,  watching  them 
around  their  camp-fires. 

His  outdoor  life,  his  companionship  with  rough 
men,  and  his  daily  work  of  surveying  served  to 
toughen  him.  They  made  him  a  self-reliant  man 
beyond  his  years.  People  who  saw  him  were 
struck  by  the  curious  likeness  which  his  walk  bore 
;o  that  of  the  Indians.  He  was  straight  as  an  ar- 
row, and  he  walked  with  his  feet  set  straight  out, 
moving  them  forward  with  the  precision  and  care 
which  the  Indian  uses.  Especially  did  his  long 
isolation  in  the  wilderness  confirm  him  in  the 
habit  of  silence  which  he  had  as  a  boy  and  kept 
through  life.  Living  so  much  by  himself,  he 
learned  to  think  for  himself  and  rely  on  himself. 

Meanwhile,  though  his  occupation  was  thus 
helping  to  form  his  character,  he  was  still  learn- 
ing from  his  associates.  There  were  three  or  four 
houses  where  he  was  at  home.  He  went  back  to 
his  mother  at  her  plantation  on  the  Rappahan- 
nock  ;  he  was  a  welcome  guest  at  Belvoir  j  he  vis- 
ited Lord  Fairfax  in  his  cabin,  and,  as  his  diary 
shows,  read  his  lordship's  books  as  well  as  talked 
with  the  quaint  old  gentleman ;  and  he  always 
had  a  home  with  his  brother  Lawrence  at  Mount 
Vernon. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   OHIO   COMPANY. 

WHETHER  in  the  woods  or  at  his  friends' 
houses,  George  Washington  was  sure,  at  this  time, 
to  hear  much  talk  of  the  country  which  lay  to  the 
westward.  The  English  had  their  colonies  along 
the  Atlantic  coast,  and  guarded  the  front  door  to 
the  American  continent.  The  French  had  their 
military  posts  along  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the 
great  lakes,  and  in  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  val- 
leys. They  had  entered  the  continent  by  other 
doors,  and  the  two  nations  were  like  two  families 
living  in  the  same  house,  each  wishing  the  whole 
premises  and  making  ready  to  oust  the  other. 

The  French  held  their  possessions  in  America 
chiefly  by  means  of  forts  and  trading-posts ;  the 
English  by  means  of  farms  and  towns.  So,  while 
the  French  were  busy  making  one  fort  after  an- 
other in  the  interior,  meaning  to  have  a  line  from 
New  Orleans  to  Quebec,  the  English  were  con- 
stantly clearing  away  woods  and  planting  farms 
farther  to  the  westward  and  nearer  to  the  French 
forts.  The  great  Appalachian  mountain  range 
kept  the  two  people  apart  for  a  time,  but  English 
settlers  were  every  year  crossing  the  mountains, 


THE  OHIO  COMPANY.  53 

and  making  their  way  into  the  fertile  valleys  be- 
yond. 

The  Indians  who  roamed  over  the  country 
found  themselves  between  two  fires.  They  saw 
very  plainly  that  if  these  two  foreign  nations  kept 
increasing  their  foothold,  there  would  be  little 
room  left  for  themselves.  They  saw,  too,  that  the 
French  and  the  English  would  not  settle  down  in 
peace  together,  nor  divide  the  land  between  them. 
Nor  were  the  Indians  wholly  at  peace  among 
themselves.  One  tribe  fought  another,  and  each 
was  very  ready  to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  white  man. 

So  the  tribes  divided.  The  French  were  very 
willing  to  have  certain  Indians  on  their  side,  when 
they  should  come  to  blows  with  the  English ;  the 
English  sought  to  make  friends  with  other  Indians 
who  were  the  enemies  of  those  that  had  formed 
alliance  with  the  French ;  and  a  tribe  would  some- 
times change  its  position,  siding  now  with  the 
French,  now  with  the  English. 

The  region  of  country  which  was  the  prize  most 
eagerly  contended  for  by  both  nations  was  that 
watered  by  the  Ohio  River  and  its  tributaries.  As 
yet,  there  were  no  white  settlements  in  this  region  ; 
but  both  French  and  English  traders  made  their 
way  into  it  and  carried  on  a  brisk  business  with 
the  Indians.  The  two  nations  now  set  to  work  in 
characteristic  fashion  to  get  control  of  the  Ohio 
Valley.  The  French  began  to  build  forts  in  com- 
manding positions;  the  English  formed  a  great 


54  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

land  company,  the  object  of  which  was  to  send  out 
emigrants  from,  England  and  the  Atlantic  colonies 
to  settle  in  the  Ohio  Valley,  plant  farms,  and  so 
gain  a  real  possession. 

The  company  thus  formed  was  called  the  Ohio 
Company.  It  was  planned  in  1748,  by  Thomas 
Lee,  a  Virginian  gentleman,  who  associated  with 
himself  thirteen  other  gentlemen,  —  one,  a  London 
merchant  who  was  to  act  as  the  company's  agent 
in  England ;  the  others,  persons  living  in  Virginia 
and  Maryland.  They  obtained  a  charter  from  the 
king,  and  the  grant  of  five  hundred  thousand 
acres  of  land  lying  chiefly  south  of  the  Ohio  River 
and  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  between 
the  Monongahela  and  Kanawha  rivers.  These 
gentlemen  reasoned  that  the  natural  passage  to 
the  Ohio  country  lay  by  the  Potomac  River  and 
through  the  breaks  in  the  mountain  ranges  caused 
by  those  branches  of  the  Ohio  River  which  took 
their  rise  in  Virginia.  So  they  intended  that  the 
stream  of  trade  which  flowed  into  the  Ohio  Valley 
should  take  its  rise  in  Maryland  and  Virginia, 
and  benefit  the  people  of  those  colonies  ;  and  in 
order  to  carry  out  their  plans,  they  proposed  to 
build  a  road  for  wagons  from  the  Potomac  to  the 
Monongahela. 

George  Washington's  elder  brothers  Lawrence 
and  Augustine,  were  both  among  the  original  mem- 
bers of  the  Ohio  Company,  and  when,  shortly  af- 
ter its  formation,  Mr.  Lee  died,  Lawrence  Wash- 


THE  OHIO  COMPANY.  55 

ington  became  the  principal  manager.  He  took  a 
very  strong  interest  in  the  enterprise,  and  was  par- 
ticularly desirous  of  settling  a  colony  of  Germans 
on  the  company's  land.  The  plans  of  the  Ohio 
Company  were  freely  discussed  at  Mount  Vernon, 
and  George  Washington,  who  had  made  himself 
well  acquainted  with  much  of  the  country  which 
lay  on  the  way  to  the  Ohio,  was  an  interested  lis- 
tener and  talker. 

There  was  other  talk,  however,  besides  that  of 
trade  and  settlement.  The  French  were  every- 
where making  preparations  to  assert  their  owner- 
ship of  the  western  country,  and  the  colonies  took 
the  alarm  and  began  also  to  make  ready  for  pos- 
sible war.  Virginia  was  divided  into  military  dis- 
tricts, each  of  which  was  under  the  charge  of  an 
adjutant-general,  whose  business  it  was  to  attend 
to  the  organization  and  .equipment  of  the  militia. 
George  Washington  was  only  nineteen  years  of 
age,  but  his  brother  Lawrence  had  such  confidence 
in  his  ability  that  he  secured  for  him  the  appoint- 
ment of  adjutant-general  for  the  military  district 
which  included  Mount  Vernon. 

To  hold  such  a  post,  one  must  be  both  a  drill- 
master  and  something  of  a  tactician,  as  well  as  a 
natural  leader  and  good  manager.  Washington 
went  to  work  with  a  will  to  qualify  himself  for  his 
place.  His  brother  had  served  long  enough  in 
the  army  to  be  able  to  give  him  some  help,  and 
Lawrence's  comrades  in  the  West  Indies  cam- 


56  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

paigns  could  give  even  more  explicit  aid.  One  of 
these,  Major  Muse,  was  a  frequent  guest  at  Mount 
Vernon,  and  now  undertook  to  teach  George 
Washington  the  art  of  war.  He  lent  the  young 
adjutant  military  treatises,  and  drilled  him  in 
manual  exercises.  A  Dutch  soldier,  Jacob  Van 
Braam,  who  was  making  a  living  as  fencing-mas- 
ter, gave  him  lessons  in  the  sword  exercise,  and 
Washington  had  the  opportunity  afterward  of 
doing  his  old  teacher  a  good  turn  by  securing  him 
a  position  in  the  army  of  which  he  was  himself  an 
officer. 

While  he  was  in  the  midst  of  all  this  military 
exercise,  which  was  very  well  suited  to  the  mind 
of  one  who  had  been  captain  of  his  school  com- 
pany, he  was  suddenly  obliged  to  drop  his  sword 
and  manual,  and  make  ready  for  a  voyage.  Law- 
rence Washington,  whose  health  had  been  im- 
paired by  his  campaigning  in  the  West  Indies, 
was  ill  with  consumption  ;  and  his  physicians  or- 
dered him  to  take  a  voyage  to  the  West  Indies 
again,  —  this  time  to  recover,  if  possible,  the 
health  which  he  had  lost  there  when  a  soldier. 
He  proposed  to  pass  the  winter  at  Barbadoes,  and 
to  take  his  brother  George  with  him. 

The  two  brothers  sailed  near  the  end  of  Septem- 
ber, 1751.  George  Washington,  with  his  method- 
ical habits,  at  once  began  a  diary,  which  he  kept 
on  the  voyage  and  during  his  stay  on  the  island. 
As  two  gentlemen  from  Virginia,  they  were  seized 


THE  OHIO  COMPANY.  57 

upon  at  once  by  the  English  officers  and  other 
residents,  and  treated  with  great  hospitality.  The 
people  who  live  in  a  small  and  isolated  settlement 
like  that  of  Barbadoes  are  generally  very  glad  to 
meet  some  one  whom  they  have  not  seen  every 
day  the  year  around.  So  the  two  brothers  dined 
with  this  and  that  new  acquaintance,  and  George, 
being  robust  and  not  needing  to  spare  himself, 
walked,  rode,  and  drove  over  the  island. 

Unfortunately,  in  the  midst  of  his  pleasure,  he 
was  seized  with  small-pox  and  obliged  to  keep  by 
himself  during  the  last  part  of  his  stay.  Vacci- 
nation was  not  understood  at  that  time,  and  there 
was  nothing  to  be  done,  if  the  small-pox  were 
about,  but  to  have  it  and  have  it  as  lightly  as  pos- 
sible. Washington  had  a  strong  constitution,  and 
bore  this  trying  illness  well,  but  he  carried  some 
slight  scars  from  the  disease  through  the  rest  of 
his  life. 

In  his  diary  he  recorded  briefly  the  events  of 
each  day  of  his  journey,  but  at  the  end  of  his  stay, 
he  filled  a  few  pages  with  general  reflections  upon 
the  life  on  which  he  had  looked,  and  which  was 
so  different  from  that  of  Virginia.  He  was  of  a 
frugal  mind  himself,  and  was  amazed  at  the  shift- 
less ways  of  the  people  of  Barbadoes.  "  How 
wonderful,"  he  says,  "  that  such  people  should  be 
in  debt,  and  not  be  able  to  indulge  themselves 
in  all  the  luxuries  as  well  as  necessaries  of  life. 
Yet  so  it  happens.  Estates  are  often  alienated 


58  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

for  debts.  How  persons  coming  to  estates  of  two, 
three,  and  four  hundred  acres  (which  are  the 
largest)  can  want,  is  to  me  most  wonderful." 

The  exactness  which  the  young  surveyor  had 
shown  in  his  plans  and  in  his  accounts  is  very  apt 
to  go  with  great  prudence  and  economy.  Up  to 
this  time  he  had  had  very  little  money  besides 
what  he  had  earned ;  but  he  shows  in  many  ways 
that  he  had  acquired  the  fundamental  principle  of 
sound  living,  —  never  spend  money  until  you  have 
earned  it ;  and  to  this  principle  he  held  all  his  life. 
I  know  that  prudence  and  economy  are  usually 
regarded  as  habits  which  one  acquires  by  careful 
training,  and  so  they  may  be.  But  with  George 
Washington  I  suspect  these  traits  were  inborn  and 
very  nearly  allied  to  genius.  He  had  a  genius  for 
order  and  method ;  it  did  not  sparkle  like  a  genius 
for  wit  or  imagination,  but  one  must  not  think  less 
of  it  for  that  reason.  Because  he  was  so  careful 
and  correct,  some  people  thought  him  mean  and 
close  ;  but  he  could  afford  to  be  thought  so,  if 
his  carefulness  and  correctness  kept  him  scrupu- 
lously honest. 

After  the  two  brothers  had  been  on  the  island 
about  six  weeks,  Lawrence  Washington,  with  the 
uneasiness  of  an  invalid,  was  sure  that  he  should 
be  better  off  in  Bermuda,  and  he  resolved  to  go 
there  as  soon  as  the  spring  opened.  But  he  longed 
to  see  his  family,  and  accordingly  sent  his  brother 
back  to  Virginia,  intending  that  he  should  return 


THE  OHIO   COMPANY.  59 

later  to  Bermuda  with  Mrs.  Washington.  George 
had  a  stormy  passage,  and  reached  Virginia  in 
February.  There  he  awaited  orders  from  his 
brother.  But  Lawrence  Washington,  with  the 
caprice  and  changing  mood  of  a  consumptive, 
could  not  make  up  his  mind  what  he  most  wanted, 
—  whether  to  send  for  his  wife  or  to  go  home 
himself.  At  last  his  disease  increased  so  rapidly 
as  to  alarm  him,  and  he  hastened  home,  reaching 
Mount  Vernon  only  a  short  time  before  his  death, 
which  took  place  in  July,  1752. 

He  left  a  wife  and  one  daughter.  It  is  a  sign 
both  of  his  confidence  in  his  brother  George  and 
of  his  love  for  him,  that  he  made  him,  though 
only  twenty  years  old,  one  of  the  executors  of  his 
will,  and  his  heir  in  case  his  daughter  should  not 
live  to  be  of  age.  As  George  Washington  was 
more  familiar  with  his  brother's  affairs  than  any 
one  else,  the  other  executors  left  the  management 
of  the  estate  almost  entirely  to  him.  From  this 
time,  Mount  Vernon  was  his  home,  —  though  it 
must  have  been  a  melancholy  home  at  first ;  for 
he  had  looked  up  to  his  elder  brother  since  he  was 
a  boy,  and  now  it  was  as  if  a  second  father  and 
a  dear  companion  had  died. 


CHAPTER 

MAJOR  WASHINGTON. 

FOR  a  while  George  Washington  was  closely 
occupied  with  settling  his  brother's  estate,  but  he 
was  obliged  to  busy  himself  with  public  affairs 
also ;  for  there  were  growing  rumors  of  French 
movements  to  the  westward,  and  to  these  Virginia, 
as  one  of  the  nearest  colonies  and  most  concerned, 
was  bound  to  pay  special  heed.  Robert  Dinwid- 
die,  a  Scotchman  and  surveyor  of  customs  in  Vir- 
ginia, had  just  been  appointed  lieutenant-governor, 
which  at  that  time  meant  resident  and  acting  gov- 
ernor. As  a  new  broom  sweeps  clean,  immediately 
he  was  very  active.  Virginia  was  divided  into 
four  military  districts  and  the  militia  put  into  ac- 
tive training.  Washington  had  shown  himself  so 
capable  before  that  he  was  again  appointed  ad- 
jutant-general, with  the  rank  of  major ;  and  one 
of  the  districts,  including  the  northern  counties, 
was  assigned  to  him. 

It  was  not  in  the  colonies  alone  that  prepara- 
tions went  on.  The  colonies  were  a  part  of  the 
British  empire,  and  a  blow  struck  at  them  by  the 
French  in  America  was  an  attack  on  England  by 
France.  England,  therefore,  sent  out  cannon  and 


MAJOR  WASHINGTON.  61 

powder  to  Virginia,  and  instructed  the  governor 
to  make  all  speed  and  build  two  forts  on  the  Ohio 
River,  in  order  to  secure  the  country  against 
French  occupation. 

But  the  French  had  moved  before  the  English. 
In  military  affairs,  the  general  who  is  first  on  the 
ground  usually  has  a  great  advantage ;  the  French 
were  a  more  military  people  than  the  English  ;  the 
whole  occupation  by  the  French  in  America  was 
an  occupation  by  soldiers ;  and  so,  while  the  Eng- 
lish ministry  and  Governor  Dinwiddie  and  the 
Virginia  militia  were  making  ready  to  start,  the 
governor  of  Canada  had  dispatched  troops  and 
supplies  into  the  debatable  territory,  and  was 
busily  engaged  in  winning  over  the  Indians. 
Moreover;  it  was  said  that  he  had  seized  certain 
English  traders  and  sent  them,  prisoners,  to 
France. 

As  soon  as  the  news  of  this  reached  Governor 
Dinwiddie,  he  determined  to  send  a  commissioner 
to  the  officer  in  command  of  the  French  forces, 
and  ask  by  what  right  Frenchmen  were  building 
forts  in  the  king's  dominions,  and  what  they  were 
intending  to  do  ;  why  they  had  made  prisoners  of 
peaceable  Englishmen  ;  and,  as  the  two  nations 
were  not  at  war,  why  French  soldiers  were  invad- 
ing English  territory.  Moreover,  the  commis- 
sioner was  to  see  the  Indian  chiefs  and  make 
sure  that  they  did  not  form  an  alliance  with  the 
French. 


62  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

It  was  no  slight  matter  for  any  one  to  undertake 
such  an  errand.  He  must  know  something  of  the 
country  ;  he  must  be  used  to  Indians  ;  he  must  be 
a  person  whom  the  French  would  respect ;  above 
all,  he  must  be  strong  of  body,  courageous,  pru- 
dent, wise,  and  on  the  alert ;  for  the  journey 
would  be  a  severe  one,  and  the  messenger  would 
need  to  have  what  is  called  a  "  level  head."  The 
king's  officers  in  Virginia  would  have  to  act  on 
such  information  as  he  brought :  how  many 
Frenchmen  there  were  in  the  Ohio  country  ;  how 
many  more  were  on  the  way ;  what  they  were 
doing ;  what  were  their  plans.  Of  course  no  one 
expected  that  the  French  commandant  would 
kindly  sit  down  and  tell  the  Virginian  commis- 
sioner what  he  meant  to  do ;  the  commissioner 
must  find  that  out  by  his  own  sagacity. 

Now  the  persons  who  were  most  immediately 
concerned  were  the  members  of  the  Ohio  Com- 
pany. Indeed,  it  was  largely  through  their  agency 
that  the  governor  of  Virginia,  who  himself  was  a 
stockholder,  had  moved  in  the  matter.  Lawrence 
Washington  was  dead,  but  Augustine  Washington 
was  interested,  and  the  younger  brother,  George, 
had  charge  of  Lawrence  Washington's  affairs. 
He  knew  perfectly  what  interests  were  at  stake. 
Besides,  he  was  a  backwoodsman ;  it  was  no  nov- 
elty for  him  to  follow  trails  through  the  forest ; 
he  could  deal  with  Indians;  and,  above  all,  he 
had  shown  himself  a  clear-headed,  far-sighted 


MAJOR  WASHINGTON.  63 

young  man,  whom  every  one  instinctively  trusted. 
He  was  one  of  his  Majesty's  officers,  for  he  was 
Adjutant-General  of  the  Northern  District;  and 
so,  though  Major  George  Washington  was  but 
twenty-one  years  old,  Governor  Dinwiddie  and  his 
council  selected  him  for  this  delicate  and  weighty 
mission. 

It  was  no  summer  jaunt  on  which  he  set  out. 
He  waited  upon  the  governor  at  Williamsburg, 
and  was  armed  with  papers  duly  signed  and 
sealed  with  the  great  seal  of  Virginia,  giving  him 
authority  as  commissioner.  On  October  30, 1753, 
he  left  Williamsburg  with  a  journey  of  more  than 
a  thousand  miles  before  him.  He  stopped  at 
Fredericksburg  to  say  good-by  to  his  mother,  and 
to  engage  his  old  fencing-master,  Van  Braam,  as 
an  interpreter.  Washington  knew  no  French, 
and  never  learned  it.  Van  Braam  pretended  to 
know  it  well,  but  really  had  only  an  ignorant 
smattering  of  the  language.  Thence  he  went  to 
Alexandria,  where  he  laid  in  supplies  ;  and  to 
Winchester,  which  was  the  most  important  fron- 
tier settlement,  where  he  provided  himself  with 
horses,  tents,  and  other  camp  equipments. 

The  real  start  of  the  expedition  was  to  be  made 
from  Wills  Creek,  now  Cumberland  in  Maryland, 
which  was  the  outpost  of  civilization.  Here 
Washington  arrived  on  November  14,  and  made 
up  his  little  company.  It  consisted  of  Christo- 
pher Gist,  who  was  in  the  employ  of  the  Ohio 


64  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

Company,  and  was  an  experienced  frontiersman  ; 
of  Jacob  Van  Braam,  the  French  interpreter ;  of 
Davidson,  an  Indian  interpreter ;  and  of  four 
frontiersmen.  The  party  was  now  complete,  and 
the  next  day  they  plunged  into  the  wilderness. 

Gist  knew  the  way  as  far  as  an  Indian  village 
called  Logstown,  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  about 
seventeen  miles  from  where  Pittsburg  now  stands ; 
there  they  were  to  call  together  the  Indian  chiefs 
and  confer  with  them.  It  had  been  raining  and 
snowing  so  heavily  in  the  mountains  that  they 
were  a  week  making  their  way  to  the  Mononga- 
hela  River  at  Turtle  Creek.  Here  they  found 
the  river  so  swollen  that  they  saw  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  cross  with  their  pack-horses.  Accordingly, 
they  sent  all  their  baggage  down  the  river  in  a 
canoe,  under  charge  of  two  of  the  men,  while  the 
rest  swam  their  horses  across  and  rode  down  to 
the  rendezvous  at  the  fork  of  the  Ohio,  ten  miles 
below. 

The  Ohio  Company  had  proposed  to  build  a 
fort  about  ten  miles  away  from  the  junction  of  the 
Monongahela  and  Alleghany ;  here  lived  a  friendly 
Indian,  Shingiss,  and  that  may  have  determined 
their  plans.  But  Washington,  who  reached  the 
fork  of  the  rivers  before  the  canoe,  began  at  once 
to  look  over  the  ground,  and  decided  without  hes- 
itation that  the  real  site  for  the  fort  should  be  the 
point  of  land  which  lay  between  the  two  rivers. 

Shingiss  went  on  with  the  party  to  Logstown, 


MAJOR   WASHINGTON.  65 

and  there  Washington  stayed  five  days,  conferring 
with  the  Indian  chiefs  and  gathering  information 
from  some  French  deserters  who  happened  to  be 
there.  He  was  impatient  to  go  forward  to  the 
French  forts,  but  he  knew  something  of  Indian 
ways,  and  he  was  learning  more.  The  chiefs  sat 
and  talked  and  smoked,  and  were  silent,  and  shook 
their  heads,  and  said  it  was  a  serious  matter. 
Serious,  indeed,  it  was  to  the  poor  Indians,  for 
the  French  had  already  told  them  that  they  were 
coming  in  force  in  the  spring  to  drive  the  English 
out  of  the  country ;  but  if  the  English  proved  too 
strong  for  that,  then  French  and  English  would 
agree  and  divide  the  land  between  them.  As  in 
that  case  the  Indians  would  have  small  favor,  the 
French  advised  the  chiefs  to  side  with  them  against 
the  English. 

At  last  Washington  persuaded  the  Indians  to 
let  three  of  their  chiefs  and  an  old  hunter  accom- 
pany his  party  to  where  the  French  were,  and 
they  followed  the  Alleghany  to  Venango,  now 
Franklin  in  Venango  County,  Pennsylvania, 
where  were  a  few  Frenchmen  who  had  driven 
out  an  English  trader.  But  the  really  important 
station  was  Fort  le  Bosuf . 

The  Frenchmen  tried  to  entice  the  Indians  from 
Washington,  and  otherwise  to  keep  him  from  going 
on  ;  but  he  insisted  on  carrying  out  his  plans,  and 
toiled  for  four  more  days  through  mire  and  snow- 
drifts until  he  came  to  the  fort. 


66  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

The  French  commandant,  M.  de  Saint  Pierre, 
received  the  Virginian  commissioner  politely,  and 
entertained  him  for  a  few  days  with  hospitality, 
but  in  the  mean  time  did  his  utmost  to  win  from 
Washington  the  Indian  chiefs  who  had  accompa- 
nied him.  Finally,  however,  M.  de  Saint  Pierre 
drew  up  a  formal  reply  to  Governor  Dinwiddie's 
letter,  and  Washington  and  his  party  returned  by 
canoe  to  Venango,  having  sent  the  horses  and  bag- 
gage on  in  advance. 

Now  began  a  terrible  journey.  The  horses  were 
so  weak,  but  so  necessary  for  carrying  the  bag- 
gage, that  Washington  and  his  companions  set 
out  on  foot,  while  the  horses  followed  behind. 
Washington  was  dressed  as  an  Indian,  and  for 
three  days  they  kept  on  in  this  way,  the  horses 
losing  strength,  the  cold  increasing,  and  the  roads 
growing  worse.  Then  Washington,  seeing  how 
slowly  the  party  was  moving,  determined  to  take 
Gist  with  him,  and  push  through  the  woods,  the 
nearest  way,  leaving  the  rest  of  the  company  to- 
gether with  the  horses  and  baggage  under  charge 
of  Van  Braam  to  follow  as  well  as  they  could. 

It  was  the  day  after  Christmas  when  he  started. 
He  put  his  journal  and  other  papers  into  a  pack 
which  he  strapped  to  his  back,  wrapped  himself 
in  a  stout  coat,  took  his  gun  in  his  hand,  and  set 
off  alone  with  Gist.  They  were  only  a  few  miles 
from  Venango,  and  they  meant  to  follow  the  path 
a  short  distance  to  an  Indian  village  called  Mur- 


MAJOR  WASHINGTON.  67 

dering  Town,  and  then  go  by  the  compass  through 
the  woods  in  as  straight  a  line  as  possible  to  the 
fork  of  the  Ohio.  The  village  was  well-named ; 
for  shortly  after  they  had  left  it,  they  were  fired 
at  by  a  French  Indian  whom  they  had  taken  along 
there  as  a  guide.  They  pretended  to  think  that 
his  gun  went  off  for  some  other  reason ;  but  they 
kept  him  with  them,  watching  him  very  closely 
all  day  till  nine  o'clock  that  night.  Then  they 
sent  him  home.  But  they  knew  well  that  he 
would  rally  his  friends  and  pursue  them ;  so  they 
walked  all  that  night  and  the  next  day,  reaching 
the  Ohio  River  at  dark,  and  rested  there  over 
night. 

They  supposed,  of  course,  that  they  should  find 
the  river  frozen  tight  and  could  cross  on  the  ice, 
but  to  their  dismay,  it  was  frozen  only  near  the 
shore,  while  blocks  of  ice  were  swirling  down  the 
middle  of  the  stream.  "  There  was  no  way  of 
getting  over,"  says  Washington  in  his  journal, 
"  but  on  a  raft,  which  we  set  about,  with  but  one 
poor  hatchet,  and  finished  just  after  sun-setting. 
This  was  a  whole  day's  work  ;  we  next  got  it 
launched,  then  went  on  board  of  it,  and  set  off ; 
but  before  we  were  half-way  over,  we  were  jammed 
in  the  ice  in  such  a  manner  that  we  expected  every 
moment  our  raft  to  sink  and  ourselves  to  perish. 
I  put  out  my  setting-pole  to  try  to  stop  the  raft, 
that  the  ice  might  pass  by,  when  the  rapidity  of 
the  stream  threw  it  with  so  much  violence  against 


68  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

the  pole  that  it  jerked  me  out  into  ten  feet  water  j 
but  I  fortunately  saved  myself  by  catching  hold 
of  one  of  the  raft-logs.  Notwithstanding  all  our 
efforts,  we  could  not  get  to  either  shore,  but  were 
obliged,  as  we  were  near  an  island,  to  quit  our 
I  raft  and  make  to  it.  The  cold  was  so  extremely 
severe  that  Mr.  Gist  had  all  his  fingers  and  some 
of  his  toes  frozen,  and  the  water  was  shut  up  so 
hard  that  we  found  no  difficulty  in  getting  off  the 
island  on  the  ice  in  the  morning,  and  went  to  Mr. 
Frazier's." 

Here  they  succeeded  in  getting  horses,  and  in 
a  few  days  Washington  was  at  Williamsburg  and 
reporting  to  the  governor.  He  had  not  merely 
made  a  very  difficult  journey  in  the  depth  of  win- 
ter and  brought  back  an  answer  to  the  governor's 
letter ;  but  he  had  made  the  most  minute  obser- 
vations of  the  condition  and  plans  of  the  French  ; 
he  had  also  strengthened  the  friendship  of  the 
English  and  Indians  ;  and  by  patient,  unwearied, 
and  resolute  attention  to  the  object  of  his  mis- 
sion, he  had  brought  back  a  fund  of  extremely 
valuable  information  for  the  use  of  the  colony. 
There  could  be  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of  his 
friends,  after  reading  his  journal,  that  here  was 
a  man  who  could  be  depended  upon.  They  had 
known  him  as  a  prudent,  careful,  economical,  de- 
liberate, rather  silent  young  fellow,  whose  judg- 
ment was  worth  having ;  but  I  doubt  if  they  had 
fully  perceived  before  what  indomitable  courage 


MAJOR  WASHINGTON.  69 

he  had,  how  fearless  he  was  in  the  midst  of  dan, 
ger,  how  keen  and  wary  in  his  dealing  with  an 
enemy,  and  how  full  of  resources  and  pluck  when 
difficulties  arose.  Here  was  no  sunshine  soldier. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

FORT  DUQUESNE  AND   FORT  NECESSITY. 

THE  House  of  Burgesses  was  not  in  session 
when  Washington  made  his  report  to  Governor 
Dinwiddie.  But  no  time  was  to  be  lost,  and  the 
energetic  governor  and  council  issued  orders  to 
erect  a  fort  at  once  upon  the  point  of  land  at  the 
fork  of  the  Ohio,  which  Washington  had  recom- 
mended as  the  best  site.  Washington  was  to 
have  command  of  the  two  companies  of  men  who 
were  to  be  enlisted  for  this  purpose,  but  he  was  to 
remain  for  the  present  at  Alexandria,  organizing 
the  expedition,  while  his  second  in  command, 
Captain  Trent,  a  trader  and  frontiersman,  went 
forward  with  such  men  as  he  could  raise  in  the 
back  settlements,  and  began  the  construction  of 
the  fort. 

Lord  Fairfax  took  a  lively  interest  in  his  young 
friend's  business,  but  it  was  not  so  easy  to  enlist 
men  for  an  expedition  of  this  kind,  as  it  was  to 
raise  and  drill  a  company  of  militia,  which,  by  the 
laws  of  the  colony,  could  not  be  marched  more 
than  five  miles  from  the  boundary  line  of  the 
colony.  Throughout  the  winter  months  Wash- 
ington was  hard  at  work  raising  his  company  and 


FORT  DUQ.UESNE  AND  FORT  NECESSITY.       71 

putting  them  in  readiness.  He  had  a  sorry  lot  of 
volunteers  to  work  with ;  they  were  for  the  most 
part  shiftless  fellows  who  had  nothing  else  to  do, 
and  scarcely  anything  to  their  backs.  They  were 
good-natured,  however,  and  ready  to  buy  clothing 
if  the  major  would  pay  them  their  wages ;  but  the 
major  had  no  money  of  his  own  to  advance,  and 
he  had  hard  work  getting  any  from  the  govern- 
ment. He  had  to  reason  with  his  men,  humor 
them,  and  fit  them  for  service  as  well  as  he  could. 
It  was  capital  preparation  for  a  kind  of  work 
which  he  had  to  do  on  a  large  scale  afterward. 

The  governor,  meanwhile,  had  been  stirring  up 
the  governors  of  the  other  colonies,  and  had  called 
the  burgesses  together.  He  could  not  make  every 
one  feel  his  own  need  of  action ;  but  he  persuaded 
the  burgesses  to  vote  a  sum  of  money,  and  thus 
was  able  to  enlarge  the  military  force  to  six  com- 
panies. There  was  a  proposition  to  put  Wash- 
ington in  command  of  the  entire  force  ;  but  the 
young  major  was  reluctant  to  assume  such  a 
charge,  when  he  had  had  so  little  experience  in 
handling  troops.  "  I  have  too  sincere  a  love  for 
my  country,"  he  said,  "  to  undertake  that  which 
may  tend  to  the  prejudice  of  it." 

Accordingly  Joshua  Fry,  an  English  gentleman 
of  education,  was  commissioned  as  colonel,  and 
Washington  was  given  the  second  place,  with  rank 
of  lieutenant-colonel.  Fry  now  remained  at  Alex- 
andria and  Washington  pushed  forward  to  Wills 


72  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

Creek,  with  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  men,  in- 
tending to  join  Trent  and  complete  the  fort  which 
le  had  begun.  He  reached  Wills  Creek  with  his 
ragged,  half-drilled  men  on  April  20,  and  soon  re- 
ceived a  very  disagreeable  piece  of  news. 

Trent,  for  some  reason,  had  left  the  fort  which 
he  was  building,  and  his  second  in  command  hav- 
ing also  absented  himself,  the  next  highest  offi- 
cer, Ensign  Ward,  was  left  in  command  of  the 
company,  which  numbered  forty-one  men.  Sud- 
denly there  had  appeared  a  multitude  of  canoes 
and  other  craft  coming  down  the  Alleghany.  It 
was  a  large  French  force  dispatched  by  the 
governor  of  Canada  to  occupy  the  same  point  of 
land.  Ward,  of  course,  could  do  nothing.  He 
was  permitted  to  withdraw  with  his  men,  and  the 
French  at  once  pulled  down  the  fort  which  Trent 
had  begun,  and  set  to  work  building  another  and 
larger  one  which  they  named  Fort  Duquesne. 
Here,  after  the  wars  of  the  next  thirty  years  were 
over,  the  city  of  Pittsburgh  began  to  rise. 

The  taking  of  the  post  by  an  armed  force  was 
like  a  declaration  of  war  on  the  part  of  France. 
It  was  the  beginning  of  the  great  seven  years'  war 
between  France  and  England  which  ended  in  the 
fall  of  France  in  America,  and  led  by  swift  steps 
to  the  independence  of  the  colonies.  By  a  strange 
coincidence,  the  nearest  English  force  was  under 
the  command  of  a  young  Virginian  officer  of 
militia,  only  twenty-two  years  old,  who  was  after- 


FORT  DUQUESNE  AND  FORT  NECESSITY.       73 

ward  to  be  the  leader  of  the  colonies  in  their  war 
against  England,  and  to  have  the  aid  of  the  very 
France  which  he  was  now  fighting. 

Washington  did  not  hesitate.  He  at  once  sent 
a  messenger  with  the  news  to  Governor  Dinwid 
die,  and  wrote  letters  to  the  governors  of  Mary- 
land and  Pennsylvania,  urging  them  to  send  for- 
ward troops  ;  for  each  colony  acted  independently 
of  the  others.  Then  he  began  work  with  such 
men  and  materials  as  he  had,  meaning  to  push 
through  the  woods  to  where  Red  Stone  Creek 
empties  into  the  Monongahela,  about  half-way  to 
Fort  Duquesne,  and  to  build  a  fort  there.  It  was 
a  spot  where  Gist  had  already  constructed  a  store- 
house for  the  Ohio  Company.  By  this  plan, 
Washington  would  be  keeping  his  men  at  work, 
and  would  have  a  road  built  for  the  use  of  the 
troops  yet  to  come.  At  that  point,  moreover, 
there  was  water  communication  with  Fort  Du- 
quesne. 

Washington  built  his  road  and  marched  his 
men  until  he  reached  a  level  piece  of  grassland, 
partially  covered  with  bushes,  that  lay  at  the  foot 
of  Laurel  Hill,  a  spur  of  the  Alleghanies,  and  was 
called  Great  Meadows.  It  was  a  good  place  for 
a  camp,  and  a  good  place  for  fighting  if  he  should 
be  attacked.  His  scouts  had  been  out,  and  his 
Indian  friends  were  on  the  watch  for  him.  Word 
came  that  a  French  party  had  left  Fort  Duquesne 
and  were  intending  to  engage  with  the  first  Eng- 


74  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

lish  forces  they  should  meet,  for  they  had  heard 
that  the  English  were  on  the  move. 

Washington  at  once  made  ready  for  the  attack. 
There  was  a  gully  crossing  the  field,  which  he 
turned  into  an  intrenchment.  He  also  cut  down 
the  bushes ;  but  he  did  not  wait  for  the  enemy. 
He  feared  they  might  surprise  his  camp  ;  and  get- 
ting  word  from  the  Indians  that  they  had  dis- 
covered, as  they  thought,  the  place  where  the 
French  were  hidden,  he  took  forty  men,  and  at 
ten  o'clock  at  night,  in  the  midst  of  a  hard  rain, 
set  out  to  surprise  the  enemy. 

"  The  path,"  he  says,  "  was  hardly  wide  enough 
for  one  man  ;  we  often  lost  it,  and  could  not  find 
it  again  for  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes,  and  we 
often  tumbled  over  each  other  in  the  dark." 

At  sunrise,  May  28, 1754,  Washington  reached 
the  camp  where  his  Indian  friends  were.  They 
joined  him,  and  the  impetuous  young  soldier  led 
his  combined  forces,  Indian  file,  in  a  stealthy 
march  through  the  woods  to  the  rocky  hollow 
where  the  Frenchmen  lay  concealed.  As  soon  as 
the  English  came  upon  them,  the  Frenchmen 
sprang  up  and  raised  their  guns.  Washington, 
who  was  in  front,  gave  his  men  the  order  to  fire, 
and  a  sharp  engagement  followed.  Ensign  Ju- 
monville,  commanding  the  French  party,  and  nine 
others  were  killed.  On  the  English  side,  one  man 
was  killed  and  two  or  three  wounded.  Twenty-two 
prisoners  were  taken,  and  Washington  marched 
back  with  them  to  the  camp  at  Great  Meadows. 


FORT  DUQUESNE  AND  FORT  NECESSITY.       75 

It  turned  out  that  Jumonville  and  his  men  were 
an  advance  party  sent  out  from  Fort  Duquesne  to 
reconnoitre.  They  had  discovered  Washington's 
force,  and  being  fewer  in  number,  had  sent  back 
to  the  fort  for  reinforcements.  Meanwhile,  they 
were  in  hiding  when  surprised  by  Washington, 
and  had  no  chance  to  escape.  The  young  Virgin- 
ian lieutenant-colonel  had  every  reason  to  believe 
that  his  force  was  to  be  attacked,  and  he  acted 
promptly.  He  did  not  stop  to  parley  with  them, 
but  answered  their  raised  guns  with  an  order  to 
his  men  to  fire. 

The  first  shot  had  been  fired,  and  Washington 
was  the  man  who  had  fired  -  it.  He  knew  well 
what  would  be  the  immediate  consequence  of  his 
act ;  the  French  would  come  in  force  as  soon  as 
they  heard  the  news,  and  he  began  at  once  to  pre- 
pare for  defense.  He  threw  up  earthworks  and 
made  a  palisade,  and  named  it  Fort  Necessity. 
It  was  a  slight  enough  protection.  He  sent  his 
prisoners  to  Winchester,  and  informed  Governor 
Dinwiddie  of  what  he  had  done.  "  Your  Honor 
may  depend,"  he  says,  "  I  will  not  be  surprised, 
let  them  come  at  what  hour  they  will ;  and  this  is 
as  much  as  I  can  promise.  But  my  best  endeav- 
ors shall  not  be  wanting  to  effect  more.  I  doubt 
not  if  you  hear  I  am  beaten,  but  you  will  hear  at 
the  same  time  that  we  have  done  our  duty,  in  fight- 
ing as  long  as  there  was  a  shadow  of  hope." 

The  camp  was  now  a  lively  place.    The  Indians, 


76  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

afraid  of  the  French,  began  to  flock  to  it,  and  the 
companies  left  behind  at  Wills  Creek  now  came 
up  ;  but  Colonel  Fry  was  dead,  and  Washington 
was  in  sole  command,  after  all.  Meanwhile,  Cap- 
tain Mackay  came  with  a  company  from  South 
Carolina.  He  was  a  captain  of  the  regular  army, 
and  so  could  not  serve  under  a  colonial  officer ; 
but  he  was  a  man  of  sense  and  courtesy,  and,  by 
mutual  consideration,  he  and  Washington  avoided 
any  serious  conflict  of  authority.  But  the  volun- 
teer and  regular  troops  could  not  agree  so  well ; 
the  camp  was  becoming  crowded,  and  Washington, 
anxious  to  carry  out  his  plans,  left  Captain  Mac- 
kay in  command  at  Great  Meadows,  and  moved 
his  men  thirteen  miles  further,  to  a  place  where 
Gist  had  formed  a  small  settlement.  It  took  two 
weeks  to  do  this,  for  the  men  built  a  road  as  they 
went,  and  the  way  led  through  a  mountain  gorge. 
Of  course  this  forward  movement  was  made 
known  to  the  French  by  their  scouts,  and  Wash- 
ington had  his  scouts  out  quite  as  far  as  Fort 
Duquesne  itself.  Soon  reports  came  thick  and 
fast  that  the  French  post  had  been  strongly  re- 
enforced,  and  that  a  large  body  of  men  was  pre- 
paring to  descend  upon  the  English.  Washington 
sent  for  Captain  Mackay  and  his  company,  and 
they  arrived  near  the  end  of  June.  A  council  of 
war  was  held,  and  the  situation  studied.  The 
place  where  they  were  was  unsuited  for  defense, 
since  hills  surrounded  it.  The  enemy's  force  was 


FORT  DUQUESNE  AND  FORT  NECESSITY.       77 

much  greater  than  their  own,  and  they  were  in  no 
condition  to  make  a  successful  resistance. 

The  order  to  retreat  was  given.  Washington, 
who  had  the  courage  to  lead  an  attack,  had  also 
the  patience,  the  self-control,  and  the  cheerful 
spirit  which  are  so  necessary  in  a  retreat.  The 
horses  were  broken  down  and  the  men  had  to 
drag  the  heavy  guns  themselves.  Washington 
loaded  his  own  horse  with  public  stores  and  went 
afoot.  He  would  not  even  require  the  soldiers  to 
carry  his  own  baggage,  as  he  might  have  done, 
but  paid  them  for  the  labor.  So,  on  July  2,  they 
were  back  at  Great  Meadows.  They  did  not 
mean  to  stay  there,  for  though  it  was  a  good  field 
for  an  open  fight,  it  had  no  natural  protection, 
and  Fort  Necessity  was  a  hasty,  flimsy  affair. 
But  the  men  were  exhausted ;  they  had  been  with- 
out sufficient  provision  for  some  time,  and  they 
were  expecting  supplies  from  below. 

They  strengthened  the  fort  as  well  as  they  could, 
but  the  French  were  only  a  few  hours  behind 
them.  The  very  next  morning  they  came  in  sight, 
nine  hundred  strong,  not  counting  Indians.  Now 
was  the  time  for  boldness ;  it  was  too  late  to  re- 
treat. Washington  led  his  little  army  out  before 
the  fort  as  if  to  invite  attack  ;  if  the  Frenchmen 
came  on,  he  might,  in  a  fair  fight,  beat  them ;  but 
they  did  not  come  on.  They  remained  at  the 
border  of  the  woods  in  a  position  where  they  could 
cut  off  his  retreat,  and  began  firing  from  a  dis- 


78  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

tance.  Washington,  accordingly,  withdrew  his 
men  behind  the  embankment. 

For  nine  hours  the  two  forces  faced  each  other, 
sending  shots  through  the  heavy  rain  and  the  mist 
which  almost  shut  them  out  from  each  other's 
sight.  There  had  been  a  heavy  loss  on  both  sides, 
but  when  night  fell  the  English  were  in  a  desper- 
ate condition,  half  starved,  their  powder  nearly 
gone,  and  their  guns  almost  good  for  nothing. 
The  French  proposed  a  parley.  Washington  re- 
fused, thinking  they  meant  to  send  an  officer  who 
would  find  out  in  what  a  deplorable  condition  they 
were.  But  when  they  proposed  that  he  should 
send  an  officer  to  them,  he  consented,  and  sent 
Jacob  Van  Braam,  who  was  now  a  captain,  and 
the  only  uninjured  officer  who  understood  French. 

Van  Braam  came  back,  bringing  with  him  in 
writing  the  terms  upon  which  the  French  would 
accept  a  surrender.  The  terms  were  on  the  whole 
liberal.  The  English  were  to  carry  with  them 
everything  in  their  possession  except  their  artil- 
lery, were  to  promise  to  build  no  more  forts  there 
or  beyond  the  mountains  for  a  year,  and  were  to 
return  the  prisoners  taken  when  Jumonville  was 
killed.  As  a  security  for  this  last,  two  officers 
were  to  be  left  with  the  French  as  hostages. 
Washington  accepted  the  terms,  and  the  next 
morning  began  his  march  back  to  Wills  Creek. 
From  there  he  and  Captain  Mackay  went  to  Wil- 
liamsburg  to  report  in  person  to  the  governor. 


FORT  DDQUESNE  AND  FORT  NECESSITY.       79 

Failure  is  sometimes  quite  as  necessary  to  char- 
acter as  success.  It  must  have  been  with  a  heavy 
heart  that  the  young  colonel  turned  back  from 
Fort  Necessity  that  4th  of  July,  1754,  his  expedi- 
tion broken  up,  his  military  ardor  damped,  his  eye 
resting  on  the  miserable  men  whom  he  was  lead, 
ing  away  from  the  bloody  field  of  Great  Meadows. 
He  was  only  twenty-two  years  old.  Twenty-one 
years  after  the  day  when  he  marshaled  his  men 
before  Fort  Necessity,  he  was  to  draw  his  sword 
at  the  head  of  an  American  army. 


CHAPTER  X. 

A  TERRIBLE  LESSON  IN  WAR. 

HOWEVER  keenly  Washington  may  have  felt 
the  defeat  which  he  suffered  at  Great  Meadows, 
no  one  blamed  him  for  a  misfortune  which  he 
had  tried  in  so  spirited  a  fashion  to  prevent.  On 
the  contrary,  the  House  of  Burgesses,  then  in 
session,  after  hearing  an  account  of  the  engage- 
ment and  reading  the  articles  of  capitulation, 
passed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Colonel  Washington 
and  his  officers,  "  for  their  bravery  and  gallant  de- 
fense of  their  country."  In  point  of  fact,  the  ex- 
pedition had  by  no  means  been  a  failure.  It  had 
built  many  miles  of  road ;  it  had  shown  that  the 
Virginian  soldiers  could  fight,  and  it  had  made 
the  French  respect  their  enemy. 

To  Washington  it  had  been  an  initiation  into 
military  service.  He  had  heard  the  bullets  whis- 
tling about  him,  and  had  known  what  it  was  to 
lead  men ;  he  had  encountered  on  a  small  scale 
the  difficulties  which  beset  commanders  of  armies ; 
he  had  stood  for  nine  hours  under  fire  from  a  su- 
perior force.  Not  all  the  hardships  of  the  sharp 
campaign  could  dampen  his  ardor.  He  knew  that 
he  was  a  soldier ;  he  knew,  too,  that  he  was  a  com- 


A  TERRIBLE  LESSON  IN  WAR.  81 

mander,  and  such  knowledge  is  much  more  than 
petty  conceit. 

He  was  to  be  put  to  the  test  in  this  matter  in 
a  new  way.  He  went  back  to  Alexandria,  where 
his  regiment  was  quartered,  and  shortly  after  re- 
ceived word  from  Governor  Dinwiddie  to  be  in 
readiness  for  a  fresh  movement.  It  had  been  re- 
solved to  send  another  expedition  to  attack  Fort 
Duquesne,  and  Washington  was  bidden  at  once  to 
fill  up  his  regiment  to  three  hundred  men  and  join 
the  other  forces  at  Wills  Creek.  Eager  as  the 
young  colonel  was  for  service,  he  had  not  taken 
leave  of  his  good  sense.  He  was  something  more 
than  a  fighter,  and  his  native  judgment,  as  well  as 
his  hard-earned  experience,  showed  him  the  fool- 
hardiness  of  such  an  adventure.  It  does  not  ap- 
pear that  he  wrote  to  his  superior  officer,  the 
governor,  remonstrating  against  the  wild  project, 
but  he  wrote  to  Lord  Fairfax,  who  had  influence, 
giving  his  reasons  why  the  enterprise  was  morally 
impossible. 

They  were  without  men,  money,  or  provisions. 
It  would  be  impossible  in  any  case  to  move  before 
November,  and  he  knew  well  enough,  by  his  ex- 
perience the  year  before,  what  a  terrible  winter 
campaign  it  would  be.  "  To  show  you  the  state 
of  the  regiment,"  he  writes  to  Lord  Fairfax,  "  I 
have  sent  you  a  report  by  which  you  will  perceive 
what  great  deficiencies  there  are  of  men,  arms, 
tents,  kettles,  screws  (which  was  a  fatal  want  be- 


82  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

fore),  bayonets,  cartouch-  boxes,  and  everything 
else.  Again,  were  our  men  ever  so  willing  to  go, 
for  want  of  the  proper  necessaries  of  life  they  are 
unable  to  do  it.  The  chief  part  are  almost  naked, 
and  scarcely  a  man  has  either  shoes,  stockings,  or 
a  hat.  These  things  the  merchants  will  not  credit 
them  for.  The  country  has  made  no  provision  ; 
they  have  not  money  themselves,  and  it  cannot 
be  expected  that  the  officers  will  engage  for  them 
again,  personally,  having  suffered  greatly  on  this 
head  already ;  especially  now,  when  we  have  all 
the  reason  in  the  world  to  believe  that  they  will 
desert  whenever  they  have  an  opportunity.  There 
is  not  a  man  that  has  a  blanket  to  secure  him 
from  cold  or  wet.  Ammunition  is  a  material  ob- 
ject, and  that  is  to  come  from  Williamsburg  or 
wherever  the  governor  can  procure  it.  An  ac- 
count must  be  first  sent  of  the  quantity  which  is 
wanted ;  this,  added  to  the  carriage  up,  with  the 
necessary  tools  that  must  be  had,  as  well  as  the 
time  for  bringing  them  round,  will,  I  believe,  ad- 
vance us  into  that  season,  when  it  is  usual,  in 
more  moderate  climates,  to  retreat  into  winter- 
quarters,  but  here,  with  us,  to  begin  a  campaign  !  " 
The  argument  of  Washington's  letter,  of  which 
this  is  a  part,  was  unanswerable.  It  showed  his 
clear,  cool  judgment,  and  the  thoroughness  with 
which  he  considered  every  detail  in  a  scheme. 
The  governor  gave  up  his  design,  but  it  was  not 
long  before  he  stumbled  into  a  new  folly.  He 


A   TERRIBLE  LESSON  IN  WAR.  83 

had  persuaded  the  burgesses  to  grant  twenty 
thousand  pounds  for  military  operations,  and  had 
received  ten  thousand  more  from  England.  So 
he  set  about  enlarging  the  army  to  ten  indepen- 
dent companies  of  one  hundred  men  each,  propos- 
ing to  place  each  company  under  command  of  a 
captain.  He  hoped  in  this  way  to  be  rid  of  the 
jealousy  which  existed  between  the  several  offi- 
cers, since  there  would  be  none  above  the  rank  of 
Daptain. 

The  plan  was  only  inferior  to  one  by  which 
every  soldier  who  enlisted  should  have  been  made 
captain,  so  that  nobody  need  be  inferior  to  any- 
body else.  Washington  not  only  saw  the  folly  of 
the  proceeding  from  a  military  point  of  view  (for 
many  of  his  difficulties  had  arisen  from  the  pres- 
ence of  independent  companies  in  the  field  with 
his  troops),  but  he  resented  the  plan  as  at  once 
reducing  him  from  the  rank  of  colonel  to  that  of 
captain.  He  had  risen  to  the  position  which  he 
held  by  regular  promotion  for  bravery  and  sol- 
dierly qualities.  He  could  not  be  the  football  of 
a  capricious  governor,  and  he  resigned  his  com- 
mission. 

He  was  instantly  wanted  in  another  quarter. 
Governor  Sharpe  of  Maryland  had  received  a 
commission  from  the  king,  as  commander-in- 
chief  of  all  the  forces  in  America  engaged  against 
the  French.  As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  Wash- 
ington had  resigned  his  commission  as  colonel  of 


84  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

a  Virginia  regiment,  Governor  Sharpe  sent  to  in- 
vite him  to  return  to  the  service  under  his  com' 
inand.  He  was  to  have  command  of  a  company, 
but  to  retain  his  rank  as  colonel.  Washington 
replied  at  once  that  he  could  not  think  of  accept- 
ing service  upon  such  terms.  He  was  not  to  be 
cajoled  into  assuming  a  false  position.  He  cared 
little  for  the  title.  What  he  wanted  was  the  au- 
thority which  goes  with  the  title.  There  was  no 
pressing  danger  to  the  country,  and  he  was  not  so 
impatient  to  be  in  military  service  that  he  needed 
as  a  soldier  to  throw  away  the  position  which  he 
had  fairly  won. 

There  was  one  consideration  which  especially 
determined  Washington  against  serving  either  as 
captain  of  an  independent  company  in  Virginia, 
or  as  one  of  Governor  Sharpe's  captains,  with  the 
complimentary  title  of  colonel.  By  a  regulation 
of  government,  all  officers  commissioned  by  the 
king  took  rank  above  officers  commissioned  by 
the  governors  of  provinces.  It  seems  that  the 
English  authorities  were  determined  to  make  the 
colonies  understand  that  their  militia  officers  were 
always  inferior  to  the  regular  army  officers  who 
came  over  from  England. 

There  was  such  an  officer  sent  over  shortly  after 
this  to  take  command  of  all  the  forces  in  the  col- 
onies. This  was  Major-General  Edward  Brad- 
dock.  He  had  been  in  military  service  forty-five 
years,  and  he  knew  all  the  rules  of  war.  He  was 


A  TERRIBLE  LESSON  IN  WAR.  85 

a  brave,  hot-headed  man,  who  knew  to  a  nicety  just 
how  troops  should  be  drawn  up,  how  they  should 
march  and  perform  all  the  evolutions,  how  a  captain 
should  salute  his  superior  officer,  and  how  much 
pipeclay  a  soldier  needed  to  keep  his  accoutre- 
ments bright.  He  was  a  rigid  disciplinarian,  and 
was  called  harsh  and  cruel,  but  that, very  likely,  was 
because  he  demanded  strict  and  instant  obedience. 

In  February,  1755,  General  Braddock  arrived 
in  Virginia,  with  his  two  regiments  of  regular 
troops  from  England.  Governor  Dinwiddie  was 
delighted.  He  should  have  no  more  trouble  with 
obstinate  burgesses  and  quarrelsome  Virginia  cap- 
tains. Everybody  expected  that  the  French  would 
at  once  be  driven  out  of  the  Ohio  Valley,  and 
General  Braddock  was  not  the  least  confident. 
There  was  a  bustle  in  every  quarter,  and  Alex- 
andria was  made  the  headquarters  from  which 
troops,  military  stores,  and  provisions  were  to  be 
sent  forward,  for  they  could  be  brought  up  the 
river  to  that  point  in  men-of-war  and  transports. 

As  soon  as  Braddock  had  arrived  in  the  coun- 
try, Washington  had  addressed  him  a  letter  of 
welcome,  and  now  he  was  keenly  intent  on  the 
general's  movements.  From  Mount  Vernon  he 
could  see  the  ships  in  the  Potomac  and  hear  the 
din  of  preparation.  He  could  not  ride  into  town 
or  to  Belvoir  without  being  in  the  midst  of  the  ex- 
citement. This  was  something  very  different  from 
the  poor,  niggardly  conduct  of  war  which  he  had 


86  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

known  in  the  colony.  It  was  on  a  great  scale ;  it 
was  war  carried  on  by  his  Majesty's  troops,  well- 
clad,  splendidly  equipped,  and  drilled  under  the 
lead  of  a  veteran  general.  He  longed  to  join 
them.  Here  would  be  a  chance  such  as  he  had 
never  had,  to  learn  something  of  the  art  of  war ; 
but  he  held  no  commission  now,  and  had  not  even 
a  company  to  offer.  Nor  was  he  willing  to  be  a 
militia  captain  and  subject  to  the  orders  of  some 
lieutenant  in  the  regular  army. 

He  was  considering  how  he  might  volunteer, 
when  he  received  exactly  the  kind  of  invitation 
which  he  desired.  He  was  a  marked  man  now, 
and  it  did  not  take  long  for  word  to  reach  General 
Braddock  that  the  young  Virginian  colonel,  who 
had  shown  great  spirit  and  ability  in  the  recent 
expedition,  and  was  thoroughly  familiar  with  the 
route  they  were  to  take,  desired  to  serve  under 
him,  but  not  as  a  subordinate  captain.  There  was 
a  way  out  of  the  difficulty,  and  the  general  at  once 
invited  Washington  to  join  his  military  family  as 
aid-de-camp. 

Washington  joyfully  accepted.  There  was  only 
one  drawback  to  his  pleasure.  His  mother,  as 
soon  as  she  heard  of  his  decision,  was  filled  with 
alarm,  and  hurried  to  Mount  Vernon  to  beg  her 
son  to  reconsider.  No  doubt  they  both  remem- 
bered how,  at  her  earnest  wish,  he  had  abandoned 
his  purpose  to  join  the  British  navy,  eight  or  nine 
years  before.  But  these  eight  or  nine  years  had 


A    TERRIBLE  LESSON  IN  WAR.  87 

made  a  great  difference.  He  was  a  man  now,  and, 
without  loss  of  respect  for  his  mother,  he  was 
bound  to  decide  for  himself.  He  would  be  a  loser 
by  the  step  in  many  ways.  There  was  no  one  to 
whom  he  could  intrust  the  management  of  his  af- 
fairs at  Mount  Vernon,  and  his  attendance  on 
General  Braddock  would  involve  him  in  consid- 
erable expense.  Nor  could  he  expect,  as  a  mere 
aid-de-camp,  to  advance  his  interests  in  the  mili- 
tary profession.  Nevertheless,  Washington  had 
counted  the  cost,  and  not  even  his  mother's  en- 
treaties turned  him  from  his  purpose. 

At  Alexandria,  Washington  first  saw  Brad- 
dock  ;  he  met  there  also  the  governors  of  Virginia, 
Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  and  Massa- 
chusetts, who  gathered  for  a  grand  council  on  the 
campaign.  Washington,  quiet  but  observant, 
looked  upon  all  the  preparations  with  admiration, 
but  without  losing  his  coolness  of  judgment.  He 
saw  the  heavy  artillery  which  Braddock  had 
brought,  and  which  was  waiting  for  teams  to  trans- 
port it  over  the  mountains.  He  remembered  how 
his  men  had  toiled  in  dragging  their  few  guns 
over  the  rough  road.  "  If  our  march  is  to  be  reg- 
ulated by  the  slow  movements  of  the  train,"  he 
said,  "  it  will  be  tedious,  very  tedious  indeed." 

Early  in  May,  Washington  joined  General 
Braddock  at  Fredericktown,  Maryland,  and  there 
he  must  have  met  a  man  of  more  consequence  than 
all  the  governors  of  the  colonies ;  for  Benjamin 


88  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

Franklin,  Postmaster-General  of  Pennsylvania,  at 
that  time  a  man  of  fifty  years,  came  to  confer  with 
General  Braddock,  and  to  do  for  him  what  no  one 
else  could  —  procure  horses  and  wagons  enough  to 
transport  his  supplies  and  artillery.  Franklin  and 
Washington  probably  seemed  to  most  people  at 
that  time  as  rather  insignificant  persons  beside  the 
Major-General  in  command  of  the  English  forces 
in  America. 

The  headquarters  were  moved  to  Wills  Creek, 
where  the  militia  had  been  hard  at  work  with  axe 
and  spade,  and  had  built  a  fort  which  was  named 
Fort  Cumberland,  from  the  Duke  of  Cumberland, 
Captain-General  of  the  British  army.  For  a 
month  Braddock  fretted  and  fumed  over  the  de- 
lays which  everybody  seemed  to  cause.  He  was 
thoroughly  out  of  patience  with  all  his  surround- 
ings. There  were  in  all  about  twenty-two  hun- 
dred men  gathered  in  camp.  Some  of  these  were 
Virginia  troops,  and  Braddock  set  his  officers  to 
drilling  them,  but  he  thought  them  a  slouchy  lot 
that  never  could  be  made  into  soldiers.  Indeed, 
it  would  have  taken  a  long  time  to  make  them  into 
such  machines  as  the  soldiers  whom  he  had 
brought  over  from  England.  Washington  was 
fast  learning  many  things.  He  was  not  deceived 
by  appearances.  He  found  this  great  general  an 
obstinate,  hot-tempered  man,  who  would  scarcely 
listen  to  reason,  and  his  soldiers,  with  all  their 
military  training,  of  different  stuff  from  the  Vir- 
ginians. 


A   TERRIBLE  LESSON  IN  WAR.  89 

Washington  was  sent  off  on  an  errand  to  Wil- 
liam sburg  for  money.  He  performed  his  duty 
with  great  promptness,  and  a  week  after  his  return 
to  camp,  the  army  was  on  the  move.  But  it 
moved  like  a  snail,  for  it  was  carrying  a  whole 
house  on  its  back.  Braddock  and  his  officers,  ac- 
customed to  campaigns  in  Europe,  seemed  to  be 
unable  to  adapt  themselves  to  the  different  condi- 
tions of  a  new  country.  They  encumbered  them- 
selves with  everything  which  English  army  regu- 
lations permitted.  Washington  saw  the  folly  of 
the  course  pursued,  and,  when  his  advice  was 
asked  by  the  general,  urged  him,  he  says,  in  the 
warmest  terms  he  was  able  to  use,  "  to  push  for- 
ward, if  even  with  a  small  but  chosen  band,  with 
such  artillery  and  light  stores  as  were  necessary, 
leaving  the  heavy  artillery,  baggage,  and  the  like, 
with  the  rear  division  of  the  army,  to  follow  by 
slow  and  easy  marches,  which  they  might  do 
safely,  wLile  we  were  advanced  in  front ;  "  and  in 
order  to  enforce  his  opinion  and  to  lead  the  offi- 
cers to  give  up  some  of  their  superfluous  baggage, 
and  thus  release  horses  for  more  necessary  work, 
he  gave  up  his  own  best  horse,  and  took  no  more 
baggage  than  half  his  portmanteau  could  easily 
contain. 

His  advice  prevailed,  and  he  set  out  with  the 
advance  party.  It  was  a  prospect,  he  wrote  to  his 
brother,  which  conveyed  infinite  delight  to  his 
mind,  though  he  was  excessively  ill  at  the  time. 


90  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

"  But  this  prospect  was  soon  clouded,  and  my 
hopes  brought  very  low  indeed,  when  I  found 
that,  instead  of  pushing  on  with  vigor,  without 
regarding  a  little  rough  road,  they  were  halting 
to  level  every  molehill,  and  to  erect  bridges  over 
every  brook,  by  which  means  we  were  four  days 
in  getting  twelve  miles."  Ill,  indeed,  he  was,  and 
for  a  fortnight  so  prostrated  with  fever  that  he 
was  forced  to  lie  in  hospital.  But  as  soon  as  he 
could  move  at  all,  he  insisted  on  rejoining  his 
corps.  "  My  fevers  are  very  moderate,"  he  writes 
to  one  of  the  other  aids  on  the  last  day  of  June, 
"and  I  hope,  near  terminating.  Then  I  shall 
have  nothing  to  encounter  but  weakness,  which  is 
excessive,  and  the  difficulty  of  getting  to  you,  aris- 
ing therefrom ;  but  this  I  would  not  miss  doing, 
before  you  reach  Duquesne,  for  five  hundred 
pounds.  However,  I  have  no  doubt  now  of  doing 
it,  as  I  am  moving  on,  and  the  general  has  given 
me  his  word  of  honor,  in  the  most  solemn  manner, 
that  it  shall  be  effected." 

On  July  8,  he  succeeded  in  rejoining  the  ad- 
vance division  of  the  army,  though  he  had  to  be 
carried  in  a  covered  wagon.  On  July  9,  he  at- 
tended the  general  on  horseback,  though  he  was 
still  very  ill  and  weak.  He  had  joined  Braddock's 
military  family  because  he  wished  to  learn  how  an 
experienced  English  general  practiced  the  art  of 
war,  and  how  regularly  trained  troops  fought.  He 
was  to  have  the  opportunity  that  day.  They  had 


Spendelow  Camp 
Martin's  Plantation 
Savage  River 
Little  Meadow 
West  eide  of  Little 
Crossing  of  Yoxiopeny 
Bear  Camp 
Squaw's  Fort 
East  side  Ot.  Meadow 
West   "      " 
Rock  Fort 
Gist's  Plantation 
East  Side  of  Great 
Crossing  of  Yoxiogeny 
West  side 
Great  Swamp 
Jacole's  Cabin 
Salt  lick 
Thicketty  Run 
Monacatuca  Camp 
Monongahela    " 
Battle  field 


0   5  10  K>  20  25 


ROUTE  OF  BRADDOCK'S  ARMY 


A   TERRIBLE  LESSON  IN  WAR.  91 

reached  a  ford  on  the  Monongahela,  fifteen  miles 
from  Fort  Duquesne,  and  had  crossed  it.  A  sec- 
ond ford  lay  five  miles  below,  and  the  troops 
marched,  as  if  on  dress  parade,  down  the  bank  of 
the  river.  Braddock  intended  that  the  French,  if 
they  saw  him,  should  be  dismayed  by  the  array, 
and  Washington  was  often  heard  to  say,  in  after 
years,  that  the  most  beautiful  spectacle  he  had 
ever  beheld  was  the  display  of  the  British  troops 
on  that  eventful  morning.  Every  man  was  neatly 
dressed  in  full  uniform,  the  soldiers  were  ar- 
ranged in  columns  and  marched  in  exact  order, 
the  sun  gleamed  from  their  burnished  arms ;  the 
river  flowed  tranquilly  on  their  right,  and  the 
deep  forest  overshadowed  them  with  solemn  gran- 
deur on  their  left.  Officers  and  men  were  equally 
inspirited  with  cheering  hopes  and  confident  an- 
ticipations. 

But  Washington  was  not  so  dazzled  by  this 
brilliant  spectacle  as  not  to  see  the  fatal  blunder 
which  Braddock  was  making.  He  urged  the  gen- 
eral to  throw  out  Virginia  rangers  and  Indian 
scouts  into  the  woods  and  ravines  which  lay  before 
them  and  on  their  side.  It  is  almost  incredible 
that  the  general  paid  no  attention  to  the  caution, 
and  merely  kept  a  few  skirmishers  a  short  way  in 
advance  of  his  force.  His  army  was  now  across 
the  second  ford  and  moving  along  the  other  bank, 
eight  miles  only  from  the  fort.  Suddenly  a  man 
dressed  like  an  Indian,  but  bearing  the  decoration 


92  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

of  an  officer,  sprang  forward  from  the  woods, 
faced  the  column  a  moment,  then  turned  and 
waved  his  hat. 

It  was  an  officer  leading  the  French  forces, 
which,  accompanied  by  a  horde  of  Indian  allies, 
had  issued  from  Fort  Duquesne  and  had  disposed 
themselves  in  the  wood.  Another  instant,  and  a 
storm  of  bullets  rained  down  upon  the  English- 
men. It  was  a  surprise,  but  the  troops  were  well 
trained.  They  fired  volley  after  volley  into  the 
wood.  They  planted  their  cannon  and  went  to 
work  in  a  business-like  way,  cheering  as  they 
jnoved  forward.  For  a  moment  the  French 
seemed  to  give  way ;  then,  in  another  instant, 
&gain  the  bullets  fell  from  all  sides  upon  the  Eng- 
lishmen, who  were  bewildered  by  the  attack. 
They  could  scarcely  see  any  man  ;  there  was  noth- 
ing to  aim  at.  The  enemy  was  indeed  invisible, 
for  every  man  had  posted  himself,  Indian  fashion, 
behind  a  tree.  Now  the  troops  huddled  together 
into  a  solid  square  and  made  so  much  the  more 
deadly  mark  for  the  rifles.  They  fell  into  a 
panic ;  they  began  to  leave  their  guns  and  to  re- 
treat. 

Braddock,  who  had  been  in  the  rear,  came  up 
with  the  main  body  and  met  the  vanguard  on  its 
retreat.  The  two  columns  of  men  were  thrown 
into  confusion.  The  Virginians  alone,  whom 
Braddock  had  so  despised  for  their  negligent 
bearing,  kept  their  heads,  and  promptly  adopting 


A  TERRIBLE  LESSON  IN  WAR.  93 

tactics  familiar  to  them,  screened  themselves,  as 
did  the  enemy,  behind  trees.  But  Braddock,  to 
whom  such  methods  were  contrary  to  all  the  rules 
of  war,  ordered  them,  with  oaths,  to  form  in  line. 
The  general  was  a  brave  man,  and  if  personal 
courage  could  have  saved  the  day,  his  intrepidity 
would  have  done  it.  He  dashed  about  on  horse- 
back. Two  of  his  aids  were  wounded,  and  the 
duty  of  carrying  the  general's  orders  fell  on  the 
third,  Colonel  Washington,  who  was  now  learning 
war  with  a  vengeance.  He  rode  in  every  direc- 
tion, his  tall,  commanding  figure  a  conspicuous 
mark  for  the  enemy's  sharpshooters.  More  than 
that,  there  were  men  there  who  had  met  him  at 
Great  Meadows,  and  who  now  made  him  their 
special  mark.  He  had  four  bullets  through  his 
coat,  and  two  horses  shot  under  him.  He  seemed 
to  escape  injury  as  by  a  miracle. 

Braddock  at  last  ordered  a  retreat,  and  while 
he  and  such  of  his  officers  as  remained  were  en- 
deavoring to  bring  the  panic-stricken  troops  into 
some  kind  of  order,  he  was  mortally  wounded  and 
fell  from  his  horse.  He  was  borne  011  a  litter, 
but  laid  at  last  at  the  foot  of  a  tree  near  the  scene 
of  Washington's  fight  at  Fort  Necessity,  where  he 
died  in  the  night  of  July  13.  The  chaplain  was 
wounded,  and  Washington  read  the  burial  service 
over  the  body  of  the  general.  It  was  a  sorry 
ending  of  the  expedition  which  had  set  out  with 
such  high  hopes. 


94  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

Five  days  later  Washington  reached  Fort  Cum- 
berland, and  one  of  his  first  duties  was  to  send  a 
letter  to  his  mother.  "  I  am  still  in  a  weak  and 
feeble  condition,"  he  writes,  "which  induces  me 
to  halt  here  two  or  three  days  in  the  hope  of  re- 
covering a  little  strength,  to  enable  me  to  pro- 
ceed homewards,  from  whence,  I  fear,  I  shall  not 
be  able  to  stir  till  towards  September ;  so  that  I 
shall  not  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  till  then, 
unless  it  be  in  Fairfax." 

He  arrived  at  Mount  Vernon  011  July  26. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF  OF  THE  VIRGINIA  FORCES. 

THE  disastrous  defeat  of  Braddock  filled  the 
Virginia  people  with  uneasiness,  for  it  was  sure  to 
be  followed  by  Indian  raids.  The  House  of  Bur- 
gesses voted  a  sum  of  money,  and  resolved  to  in- 
crease the  regiment  by  making  it  consist  of  six- 
teen companies.  His  friends  immediately  began 
to  urge  Washington  to  solicit  the  command,  but 
he  would  do  nothing  of  the  sort.  His  experience 
had  taught  him  the  weakness  of  the  colonial  mili- 
tary system ;  if  he  were  to  seek  the  place  he  could 
not  at  the  same  time  propose  reforms.  If  the 
command  were  offered  him,  that  would  be  a  dif- 
ferent matter,  for  then  he  would  be  at  liberty  to 
make  conditions. 

The  command  was  offered  to  him  on  his  own 
terms,  and  for  three  years  he  was  engaged  in  as 
trying  and  perplexing  a  business  as  could  well  be 
committed  to  a  young  man  of  twenty-three  to 
twenty-six  years  of  age.  He  did  not  know  it  at 
the  time,  but  we  see  now  that  he  was  attending  a 
school  of  the  severest  sort  in  preparation  for  the 
arduous  task  which  was  to  be  set  him  later  in  life. 

His  headquarters  were  at  Winchester,  where  he 


96  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

had  the  active  support  of  his  old  friend  Lord  Fair- 
fax. As  soon  as  he  had  effected  some  sort  of 
organization,  he  sent  out  recruiting  officers  and 
did  his  best  to  fill  up  the  ranks  of  his  little  army. 
Then  he  was  off  on  a  tour  of  inspection,  visiting 
the  outposts  and  making  himself  acquainted,  by 
personal  observation,  with  all  the  details  of  his 
command. 

Everything  seemed  to  be  against  him,  and  every 
advantage  which  he  gained  was  won  only  by  the 
most  determined  effort.  He  must  often  have 
thought  with  envy  of  the  profusion  of  military 
stores  of  all  kinds  with  which  Braddock's  army 
was  provided,  and  of  the  abundant  money  in  the 
hands  of  the  paymaster.  Here  was  he,  obliged  to 
use  the  strictest  economy  if  he  would  make  the 
money  which  the  burgesses  doled  out  answer  the 
needs  of  his  command,  and  he  was  forced  to  be 
his  own  commissary  and  quartermaster,  laying  in 
stores  and  buying  cattle  up  and  down  the  country. 
*'  At  the  repeated  instance  of  the  soldiers,"  he 
writes  once  to  the  Speaker  of  the  House,  "  I  must 
pay  so  much  regard  to  their  representations,  as 
to  transmit  their  complaints.  They  think  it  ex- 
tremely hard,  as  it  is  indeed,  sir,  that  they,  who 
perhaps  do  more  duty,  and  undergo  more  fatigue 
and  hardship  from  the  nature  of  the  service  and 
situation  of  the  country,  should  be  allowed  the 
least  pay,  and  smallest  encouragements  in  other 
respects.  Our  soldiers  complain  that  their  pay  is 


COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF  OF  VIRGINIA.          97 

insufficient  even  to  furnish  shoes,  shirts,  and  stock- 
ings, which  their  officers,  in  order  to  keep  them 
fit  for  duty,  oblige  them  to  provide.  This,  they 
say,  deprives  them  of  the  means  of  purchasing  any 
of  the  conveniences  or  accessories  of  life,  and  com- 
pels them  to  drag  through  a  disagreeable  service, 
in  the  most  disagreeable  manner.  That  their  pay 
will  not  afford  more  than  enough  to  keep  them  in 
clothes,  I  should  be  convinced  for  these  reasons, 
if  experience  had  not  taught  me.  The  British 
soldiers  are  allowed  eight  pence  sterling  per  day, 
with  many  necessaries  that  ours  are  not,  and  can 
buy  what  is  requisite  upon  the  cheapest  terms; 
and  they  lie  one  half  the  year  in  camp  or  garri- 
son, when  they  cannot  consume  the  fifth  part  of 
what  ours  do  in  continual  marches  over  mountains, 
rocks,  and  rivers.  .  .  .  And  I  dare  say  you  will 
be  candid  enough  to  allow  that  few  men  would 
choose  to  have  their  lives  exposed  to  the  incessant 
insults  of  a  merciless  enemy,  without  some  view 
or  hope  of  reward."  ' 

But  his  difficulties  with  regard  to  money  and 
supplies  were  as  nothing  to  those  which  he  endured 
when  seeking  to  raise  men,  and  to  control  them. 
His  recruiting  officers  were  negligent.  "  Several 
officers,"  he  writes  at  one  time,  "  have  been  out 
six  weeks,  or  two  months,  without  getting  a  man, 
spending  their  time  in  all  the  gayety  of  pleasur- 
able mirth,  with  their  relations  and  friends ;  not 
attempting  nor  having  a  possible  chance  to  recruit 


98  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

any  but  those  who,  out  of  their  inclination  to  the 
service,  will  proffer  themselves."  At  one  time, 
when  the  Shenandoah  Valley  was  in  imminent 
danger  from  Indians,  he  called  upon  Lord  Fairfax 
and  other  officers  of  the  militia  to  put  forth 
special  efforts  to  bring  together  all  the  men  they 
could  raise  for  an  expedition  to  go  out  and  scour 
the  country,  and  when  the  day  came,  after  all  the 
drumming  and  beating  up  of  recruits,  only  fifteen 
appeared ! 

Nor,  after  he  had  his  men,  could  he  bring  them 
under  regular  discipline.  He  had  seen  something 
of  the  order  which  prevailed  under  English  offi- 
cers, and  it  brought  into  stronger  contrast  the 
loose,  independent  ways  of  the  Virginia  militia, 
where  the  men  had  very  little  uotion  of  obedience, 
and  regarded  an  order  as  a  request  which  they 
could  attend  to  or  not  as  suited  their  convenience. 
All  this  was  exasperating  enough  to  a  high-spirited 
commander,  who  knew  that  no  effective  military 
work  could  be  done  when  there  was  such  a  spirit, 
and  Washington  prevailed  upon  the  legislature  to 
enact  a  more  stringent  code  of  laws,  which  gave 
more  power  to  the  commander,  and  compelled  the 
soldier  to  obey  at  risk  of  severe  penalty.  To  ac- 
complish this,  he  had  to  visit  Williamsburg  and 
labor  with  the  members  of  the  legislature  individ- 
ually. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Washington  had  very 
troublesome  material  to  make  into  soldiers,  and 


COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF  OF  VIRGINIA.          99 

that,  as  a  young  commander,  he  was  incensed  by 
their  conduct,  and  ready  to  be  very  summary  with 
them.  As  a  military  man,  he  was  also  greatly  an- 
noyed by  the  indifferent  manner  in  which  he  was 
supported  by  the  country  people  whom  he  was 
engaged  in  protecting.  One  reason  lay  in  the  pe- 
culiar life  of  Virginia.  When  an  ignorant  white 
man  found  himself  under  strict  orders,  he  resented 
it,  because  he  thought  it  placed  him  on  a  level 
with  negro  slaves.  Then  there  was  no  class  of 
intelligent,  hard-working  mechanics,  from  which 
soldiers  could  be  drafted.  The  planters'  sons  were 
ready  to  be  officers,  but  they  did  not  care  about 
being  privates.  The  better  men  in  the  ranks  were 
drawn  from  the  hardy  backwoodsmen,  whose  life 
was  a  free,  self-reliant  one.  In  fact,  the  stubborn 
burgesses  and  independent  soldiers  were  made 
stubborn  and  independent  by  the  life  in  America 
which  several  generations  of  planters  and  frontiers- 
men had  been  living.  Washington  was  too  near 
these  people  to  understand  this  at  the  time,  but 
we  can  see  that  his  troublesome  soldiers  were  the 
stuff  out  of  which  the  fighting  armies  of  the  war 
for  independence  were  made. 

The  old  trouble  between  provincial  officers  and 
those  appointed  by  the  king  continued ;  and 
Washington  found  himself  balked  in  his  plans  by 
a  little  whipper-snapper  of  a  captain,  who  was 
posted  at  Fort  Cumberland  and  refused  to  take 
orders  from  him.  Even  the  governor  was  timidly 


100  GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

unwilling  to  sustain  the  commander-in-chief,  and 
in  order  to  set  the  matter  at  rest,  for  the  case  was 
one  which  involved  much,  Washington  made  a 
journey  to  Boston  to  consult  with  Governor  Shir- 
ley, who  at  that  time  was  at  the  head  of  all  the 
British  forces  in  America. 

This  journey  of  seven  weeks,  taken  on  horse- 
back in  the  middle  of  winter,  was  the  first  which 
the  young  Virginian  had  taken  to  the  northward. 
His  route  lay  through  Philadelphia,  New  York, 
New  London,  and  Newport ;  and  everywhere  that 
he  went  he  was  received  with  great  attention.  He 
obtained  without  difficulty  the  support  of  Gov- 
ernor Shirley,  and  had  a  long  and  thorough  con- 
ference with  him  upon  the  plans  of  the  approach- 
ing campaign.  In  one  thing,  however,  he  was  dis- 
appointed. He  had  hoped  to  obtain  a  commission 
from  the  governor,  as  the  king's  representative, 
making  him  an  officer  in  the  regular  army.  He 
sought  this  more  than  once,  but  never  obtained  it. 
So  much  the  better,  we  think,  for  America.  Had 
Washington  received  such  a  commission  and  risen 
to  the  position  in  the  British  army  which  his  genius 
would  have  commanded,  he  might  not  have  served 
against  his  country,  but  it  is  not  likely  that  he 
would  have  served  for  it  as  he  did. 

Then  he  had  unceasing  trouble  with  Governor 
Dinwiddie.  The  governor  was  a  fussy,  opinion- 
ated man,  who  showed  much  zeal  in  the  defense 
of  Virginia,  but  not  always  a  zeal  according  to 


COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF  OF  VIRGINIA.       101 

knowledge.  He  was  constantly  proposing  im- 
practicable schemes,  and  it  required  great  patience 
and  ingenuity  on  the  part  of  Washington  to  per- 
suade the  governor  out  of  his  plans  without  per- 
petually  coming  into  open  conflict  with  him.  He 
learned  the  part  of  the  wise  man  who  goes  around 
a  difficulty  if  possible,  rather  than  over  it. 

The  position  in  which  Washington  stood  during 
these  three  years  was  indeed  a  very  trying  one. 
He  was  expected  to  defend  the  western  border  of 
Virginia  against  the  incursions  of  the  Indians, 
aided  by  the  French,  who  grew  more  audacious 
after  the  defeat  of  Braddock.  Yet  he  had,  as  it 
were,  neither  men  nor  money  at  his  command,  and 
the  governor  and  burgesses,  to  whom  he  looked 
for  aid,  were  quarreling  at  the  other  end  of  the 
province.  His  neighbors  and  friends  gave  him 
some  help,  but  there  were  only  a  few  who  really 
stood  by  him  in  all  weathers.  More  than  once  he 
was  on  the  point  of  resigning  a  position  which 
brought  him  scarcely  anything  but  disappoint- 
ment ;  but  he  was  prevented  by  the  urgency  of  his 
friends  and  by  the  crying  needs  of  the  settlers  on 
the  frontiers.  If  he  failed  them,  who  would  pro- 
tect them  ?  And  so  this  young  man  of  twenty-four 
kept  his  post  and  worked  month  after  month  to 
secure  peace  and  safety  for  them.  How  strongly 
he  felt  may  be  seen  by  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to 
Governor  Dinwiddie  at  the  time  of  their  sorest 
need :  — 


102  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

11  Your  Honor  may  see  to  what  unhappy  straits  the 
distressed  inhabitants  and  myself  are  reduced.  I  am 
too  little  acquainted,  Sir,  with  pathetic  language  to  at- 
tempt a  description  of  the  people's  distresses,  though  I 
have  a  generous  soul,  sensible  of  wrongs,  and  swelling 
for  redress.  But  what  can  I  do  ?  I  see  their  situation, 
know  their  danger,  and  participate  in  their  sufferings, 
without  having  it  in  my  power  to  give  them  further 
relief  than  uncertain  promises.  In  short,  I  see  inevita- 
ble destruction  in  so  clear  a  light  that,  unless  vigorous 
measures  are  taken  by  the  Assembly,  and  speedy  assist- 
ance sent  from  below,  the  poor  inhabitants  that  are  now 
in  forts  must  unavoidably  fall,  while  the  remainder  are 
flying  before  the  barbarous  foe.  In  fine,  the  melan- 
choly situation  of  the  people,  the  little  prospect  of  as- 
sistance, the  gross  and  scandalous  abuses  cast  upon 
the  officers  in  general,  which  is  reflecting  upon  me  in 
particular,  for  suffering  misconduct  of  such  extraordi- 
nary kinds,  and  the  distant  prospect,  if  any,  of  gaining 
honor  and  reputation  in  the  service,  —  cause  me  to 
lament  the  hour  that  gave  me  a  commission,  and  would 
induce  me  at  any  other  time  than  this  of  imminent  dan- 
ger, to  resign,  without  one  hesitating  moment,  a  com- 
mand, from  which  I  never  expect  to  reap  either  honor 
or  benefit ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  have  almost  an  abso- 
lute certainty  of  incurring  displeasure  below  [that  is,  at 
Williamsburg  and  in  the  older  parts  of  the  province], 
while  the  murder  of  helpless  families  may  be  laid  to  my 
account  here.  The  supplicating  tears  of  the  women  and 
the  moving  petitions  of  the  men  melt  me  into  such 
deadly  sorrow,  that  I  solemnly  declare,  if  I  know  my 
own  mind,  I  could  offer  myself  a  willing  sacrifice  to  the 


COMMANDER  IN-CHIEF  OF  VIRGINIA.        103 

butchering  enemy,  provided  that  would  contribute  to 
the  people's  ease." 

It  is  no  wonder  that  the  constant  anxiety  and 
hardship  which  he  endured  undermined  his  health, 
and  that  for  four  months  he  was  obliged  to  give  up 
his  command  and  retire  to  Mount  Vernon.  Upon 
his  recovery,  a  brighter  prospect  opened.  Din- 
widdie  was  recalled  and  a  more  sensible  lieutenant- 
governor  took  his  place.  Best  of  all,  Mr.  Pitt,  the 
great  English  statesman,  took  direction  of  affairs 
in  England,  and  at  once  planned  for  the  quick 
ending  of  the  war  with  France.  He  thrust  out 
inefficient  generals,  and  put  the  armies  in  America 
into  the  hands  of  resolute,  able  men.  He  won 
over  the  colonies  by  a  hearty  interest  in  them,  and 
by  counting  on  the  colonial  forces  in  the  coming 
campaigns.  Then  he  pushed  preparation  for  at- 
tacking the  French  in  their  strongholds. 

Washington  was  overjoyed  at  the  news  of  an- 
other movement  against  Fort  Duquesne.  Virginia 
raised  two  regiments  to  add  to  the  British  regulars, 
who  were  under  the  command  of  General  Forbes. 
Washington  was  to  be  at  the  head  of  one  of 
these  regiments,  while  still  retaining  his  position 
as  commander-in-chief  of  the  Virginia  forces.  He 
was  in  hearty  accord  with  the  English  officers  and 
with  the  new  governor,  and  he  was  at  last  with 
men  who  understood  his  value  and  listened  with 
respect  to  his  judgment.  It  is  a  great  moment  in 
a  young  man's  life  when  older  men  turn  to  him  for 


104  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

counsel,  and  if  he  has  won  his  knowledge  by  solid 
experience,  he  is  not  likely  to  have  his  head  turned 
by  such  attention.  Washington  had  borne  neg- 
lect and  misunderstanding ;  he  had  been  left  to 
work  out  his  plans  by  himself,  and  had  for  nearly 
three  years  been  learning  to  rely  upon  himself, 
since  there  was  no  one  else  on  whom  he  could  lean. 
So  he  had  become  strong,  and  other  men  now 
leaned  on  him. 

He  was  kept  busy  for  some  time  at  Winchester, 
collecting  men  and  material,  and  at  last  marched 
to  Fort  Cumberland  at  the  head  of  his  forces. 
The  expedition  against  Fort  Duquesne  was  a  dif- 
ferent affair  from  that  undertaken  by  Braddock. 
A  lesson  had  been  learned,  and  Washington  was 
in  a  position  now,  not  only  to  advise,  but  to  carry 
out  plans.  Braddock  had  refused  to  listen  to  his 
advice,  but  Forbes  and  the  other  officers  not  only 
listened,  but  gave  him  the  lead  in  many  things. 
Washington  had  seen  the  folly  of  Braddock' s  elab- 
orate and  cumbersome  outfit,  and  had  urged  him 
to  move  more  lightly  equipped.  Now  he  had  his 
way,  and  he  took  advantage  of  his  men's  lack  of 
regimental  clothing  to  dress  them  like  Indians. 
"  If  I  were  left  to  pursue  rny  own  inclinations,"  he 
wrote  to  the  British  commander,  "  I  would  not 
only  order  the  men  to  adopt  the  Indian  dress,  but 
cause  the  officers  to  do  it  also,  and  be  the  first  to 
set  the  example  myself.  Nothing  but  the  uncer- 
tainty of  obtaining  the  general  approbation  causes 


COMMANDER-IN-CBIEF  OF  VIRGINIA.       105 

me  to  hesitate  a  moment  to  leave  my  regimentals 
at  this  place,  and  proceed  as  light  as  any  Indian 
in  the  woods.  It  is  an  unbecoming  dress,  I  own, 
for  an  officer  ;  but  convenience  rather  than  show, 
I  think,  should  be  consulted."  Fortunately  he  did 
not  have  to  deal  with  a  pedantic  officer.  His  dress 
was  approved  and  became  very  popular.  It  "  takes 
very  well  here,"  wrote  the  British  commander, 
"  and,  thank  God,  we  see  nothing  but  shirts  and 
blankets." 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  all  now 
went  smoothly.  On  the  contrary,  Washington 
had  a  bitter  disappointment.  The  general,  influ- 
enced by  the  advice  of  some  interested  persons, 
proposed  to  cut  a  new  road  through  Pennsylvania 
to  Fort  Duquesne.  Washington  remonstrated 
with  all  his  might.  They  already  had  the  old  road, 
over  which  troops  could  be  transported  quickly 
and  the  expedition  be  brought  to  a  speedy  close. 
His  remonstrance  was  in  vain,  and  again  he  had 
to  use  all  his  patience  and  self-command,  as  he  saw 
foolish  counsels  prevail.  He  was  able,  however, 
to  prevent  General  Forbes  from  dividing  his  forces 
and  sending  part  by  one  road,  and  part  by  the 
other ;  and  he  never  indulged  in  a  petty  sulking 
fit,  because  his  advice  was  not  followed,  or  showed 
one  whit  less  determination  to  do  his  part.  "  I 
pray  your  interest  most  sincerely  with  the  gen- 
eral," he  wrote  to  Colonel  Bouquet,  of  the  regular 
army,  "  to  get  myself  and  my  regiment  included 


106  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

in  the  number"  [of  the  advance  troops].  "If 
any  argument  is  needed  to  obtain  this  favor,  I 
hope  without  vanity  I  may  be  allowed  to  say  that, 
from  long  intimacy  with  these  woods,  and  frequent 
scouting  in  them,  my  men  are  at  least  as  well  ac- 
quainted with  all  the  passes  and  difficulties,  as  any 
troops  that  will  be  employed." 

He  had  his  way  in  this.  He  had  his  way  also, 
though  he  cared  less  for  that,  in  showing  the  folly 
of  the  course  pursued  in  opening  a  new  road. 
However,  the  expedition  succeeded,  for  when  the 
general  reached  Fort  Duquesne,  the  French  had 
withdrawn  their  forces  to  meet  a  demand  else- 
where, and  had  burned  the  fort. 

The  English  now  took  possession  of  that  part 
of  the  country.  People  forgot  the  mistakes  which 
had  been  made.  A  new  fort  was  built  and  named 
Fort  Pitt  (whence  came  the  modern  name  of  Pitts- 
burgh), and  Washington  led  his  men  back  to  Win- 
chester. 

There  was  no  longer  any  need  of  an  army  to  be 
kept  in  the  field,  now  that  the  French  had  been 
driven  from  the  Ohio  Valley,  and  Washington  re- 
signed his  commission.  He  had  given  up  any  ex- 
pectation of  receiving  a  commission  in  the  British 
army,  and  he  had  indeed  no  longer  a  desire  to  be 
a  soldier  by  profession.  As  with  his  brother  Law- 
rence before  him,  something  now  occurred  in  his 
life  which  made  it  easy  for  him  to  be  a  Virginia 
planter. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

WASHINGTON  AT   MOUNT  VERNON. 

NEAR  the  end  of  May,  1758,  Washington  was 
ordered  by  the  Quartermaster- General  of  the 
British  forces  to  leave  Winchester  and  make  all 
haste  to  William  sburg,  there  to  explain  to  the 
governor  and  council  in  what  a  desperate  condi- 
tion the  Virginia  troops  were  as  regarded  clothing 
and  equipments.  The  army  was  making  ready 
for  its  expedition  against  Fort  Duquesne,  and  so 
urgent  was  the  case  that  the  young  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  volunteers  was  sent  on  this  errand. 
Pie  was  on  horseback,  for  that  was  the  only  mode 
of  travel,  and  accompanied  by  Billy  Bishop,  once 
the  military  servant  of  General  Braddock,  but% 
since  the  death  of  the  general,  the  faithful  ser^ 
vant  of  the  young  Virginian  aid  who  had  read  tha 
funeral  service  over  his  dead  master. 

The  two  men  had  reached  Williams  Ferry,  on 
the  Pamunkey  River,  and  had  crossed  on  the  boat, 
when  they  met  Mr.  Chamberlayne,  a  Virginian 
gentleman  living  in  the  neighborhood.  The  hos- 
pitable planter  insisted  that  Washington  should 
at  once  go  to  his  house.  It  was  forenoon,  and 
dinner  would  be  served  as  usual,  early,  and  after 


108  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

that  Colonel  Washington  could  go  forward  to 
Williamsburg,  if  go  he  must.  Besides  all  that, 
there  was  a  charming  young  widow  at  his  house 
—  Colonel  Washington  must  have  known  her,  the 
daughter  of  John  Dandridge,  and  the  wife  of  John 
Parke  Custis.  Virginia  hospitality  was  hard  to  re- 
sist, and  Washington  yielded.  He  would  stay  to 
dinner  if  his  host  would  let  him  hurry  off  imme- 
diately afterward. 

Bishop  was  bidden  to  bring  his  master's  horse 
around  after  dinner  in  good  season,  and  Wash- 
ington surrendered  himself  to  his  host.  Dinner 
followed,  and  the  afternoon  went  by,  and  Mr. 
Chamberlayne  was  in  excellent  humor,  as  he 
kept  one  eye  on  the  restless  horses  at  the  door, 
and  the  other  on  his  guests,  the  tall,  Indian-like 
officer  and  the  graceful,  hazel -eyed,  animated 
young  widow.  Sunset  came,  and  still  Washing- 
ton lingered.  Then  Mr.  Chamberlayne  stoutly 
declared  that  no  guest  was  ever  permitted  to  leave 
his  house  after  sunset.  Mrs.  Martha  Custis  was 
not  the  one  to  drive  the  soldier  away,  and  so 
Bishop  was  bidden  to  take  the  horses  back  to  the 
stable.  Not  till  the  next  morning  did  the  young 
colonel  take  his  leave.  Then  he  dispatched  his 
business  promptly  at  Williamsburg,  and  whenever 
he  could  get  an  hour  dashed  over  to  White  House, 
where  Mrs.  Custis  lived.  So  prompt  was  he 
about  this  business,  also,  that  when  he  returned 
to  Winchester  he  had  the  promise  of  the  young 


WASHINGTON  AT  MOUNT  VERNON.          109 

widow  that  she  would  marry  him'  as  soon  as  the 
campaign  was  over. 

So  runs  the  story  told  by  the  grandson  of  Mrs. 
Custis,  for  when  she  married  Washington,  January 
6,  1759,  she  had  two  children,  a  boy  of  six  and  a 
girl  of  four. 

Washington  took  his  wife  and  her  little  chil- 
dren home  to  Mount  Vernon,  which  was  his  own, 
since  Lawrence  Washington's  only  child  had  died, 
and  his  widow  had  married  again.  Martha  Custis 
added  her  own  large  property  to  her  husband's, 
and  Washington  was  now  a  rich  man,  with  large 
estates  and  with  plenty  to  occupy  him  if  he  would 
devote  himself  to  the  care  of  his  property. 

From  the  time  of  his  marriage  until  his  death, 
Washington  wore  a  miniature  portrait  of  his  wife, 
hung  from  his  neck  by  a  gold  chain.  "  My  dear 
Patsy,"  he  calls  her  in  his  letters,  and  he  was 
never  happier  than  when  living  with  her  in  quiet 
at  Mount  Vernon.  They  never  had  son  or 
daughter ;  but  Washington  loved  dearly  the  boy 
and  girl  whom  his  wife  brought  to  him.  The  girl 
died  when  she  was  sixteen ;  the  boy  grew  up, 
married,  and  became  the  father  of  several  chil- 
dren. 

Washington  was  broken  with  grief  when  his 
wife's  daughter  died,  and  when  the  son  died,  he 
adopted  as  his  own  the  orphan  children  whom 
John  Custis  left  behind. 

It  was  no  light  matter  to  be  a  Virginia  planter, 


110  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

when  one  had  so  high  a  standard  of  excellence  as 
George  Washington  had.  The  main  crop  which 
he  raised  was  tobacco,  and  the  immediate  atten- 
tion which  it  required  was  only  during  a  small 
part  of  the  year  ;  but,  as  we  have  seen,  a  success- 
ful planter  was  also  a  man  of  business,  and  really 
the  governor  of  a  little  province.  Many  planters 
contented  themselves  with  leaving  the  care  of  their 
estates  and  their  negroes  to  overseers,  while  they 
themselves  spent  their  time  in  visiting  and  receiv- 
ing visits,  in  sports,  and  in  politics.  That  was  not 
Washington's  way.  He  might  easily  have  done 
so,  for  he  had  money  enough ;  but  such  a  life 
would  have  been  very  distasteful  to  a  man  who 
had  undergone  the  hardships  of  a  soldier,  and 
had  acquired  habits  of  thoroughness  and  of  love 
of  work.  It  would  have  been  no  pleasure  to 
Washington  to  be  idle  and  self-indulgent,  while 
seeing  his  fences  tumbling  down,  and  knowing 
that  he  was  spending  more  money  for  everything 
than  was  necessary.  The  man  who  attends  to  his 
own  affairs,  and  sees  everything  thriving  under 
wise  management,  is  the  most  contented  man,  and 
Washington's  heart  was  in  his  work. 

So  he  looked  after  everything  himself.  He 
rose  early,  often  before  light,  when  the  days  were 
short.  He  breakfasted  lightly  at  seven  in  the 
summer  and  at  eight  in  winter,  and  after  break- 
fast was  in  the  saddle  visiting  the  different  parts 
of  his  estate,  and  looking  after  any  improvements 


WASHINGTON  AT  MOUNT  VERNON.          Ill 

he  had  ordered.  He  was  a  splendid  horseman 
and  very  fond  of  breaking  in  new  horses.  Din- 
ner followed  at  two  o'clock  ;  he  had  an  early  tea  ; 
and  when  living  at  home,  he  was  often  in  bed  by 
nine  o'clock. 

These  were  regular,  old  fashioned  hours,  and 
the  life  which  he  led  enabled  him  to  accomplish  a 
vast  amount.  He  kept  no  clerk,  but  wrote  out  in 
his  large  round  hand  all  his  letters  and  orders,  en- 
tered every  item  in  his  day-book  and  ledger,  and 
was  scrupulously  exact  about  every  farthing  of  his 
accounts.  He  did  not  guess  how  he  stood  at  any 
time,  but  he  knew  precisely  how  last  year's  crop 
compared  with  this  year's ;  how  many  head  of 
cattle  he  had;  how  many  acres  he  had  planted 
with  tobacco ;  what  wood  he  had  cut ;  and  just 
what  goods  he  had  ordered  from  London.  He 
had  been  appointed  by  the  court,  guardian  of  his 
wife's  two  children,  who  had  inherited  property 
from  their  father ;  and  he  kept  all  their  accounts 
separate,  with  the  minutest  care,  for  he  held  a 
trust  to  be  sacred. 

Twice  a  year  he  sent  to  his  agent  in  London  a 
list  of  such  articles  as  he  needed ;  there  were 
plows,  hoes,  spades,  and  other  agricultural  imple- 
ments; drugs,  groceries  of  various  sorts,  clothes 
both  for  his  family  and  for  his  negroes  ;  tools, 
books,  busts,  and  ornaments  ;  household  furniture, 
and  linen.  Indeed,  as  one  reads  the  long  invoices 
which  Washington  sent  to  London,  he  wonders 


112  GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

how  people  managed  who  had  to  send  across  the 
Atlantic  for  everything  they  might  possibly  need 
for  the  next  six  months.  Then  there  were  special 
orders  for  the  children ;  for  "  Master  Custis,  six. 
years  old,"  there  were,  besides  Irish  holland,  fine 
cambric,  gloves,  shoes,  stockings,  hats,  combs,  and 
brushes,  such  items  as  these,  —  "  one  pair  hand, 
some  silver  shoe  and  knee  buckles,  ten  shillings' 
worth  of  toys,  and  six  little  books,  for  children 
beginning  to  read ;  "  while  for  "  Miss  Custis,  four 
years  old,"  were  a  great  variety  of  clothes,  includ^ 
ing  "  two  caps,  two  pairs  of  ruffles,  two  tuckers, 
bibs,  and  aprons  if  fashionable,"  and  finally,  a 
"  fashionable  dressed  baby,  ten  shillings,  and 
other  toys  "  to  the  same  amount. 

He  required  his  agent  to  send  him,  with  his  bill 
for  all  the  goods,  the  original  bills  of  the  mer- 
chants who  sold  the  goods  to  the  agent ;  then  he 
copied  all  these  orders  and  bills,  giving  every  item, 
and  in  this  way  he  had  before  him  in  his  books  an 
exact  statement,  in  every  particular,  of  his  trans- 
actions. 

He  watched  the  market  closely,  and  knew  just 
what  the  varying  price  of  tobacco  was,  and  what 
he  might  expect  for  any  other  goods  which  he 
sent  to  be  sold.  He  was  determined  that  every- 
thing from  his  plantation  should  be  of  value  and 
should  receive  its  full  price.  So  high  a  reputation 
did  he  secure  for  honesty  that  it  was  said  that 
any  barrel  of  flour  that  bore  the  brand  of  George 


WASHINGTON  AT  MOUNT  VERNON.          113 

Washington,  Mount  Vernon,  was  exempted  from 
the  customary  inspection  in  the  West  Indian 
ports. 

Like  other  Virginia  planters,  Washington  was 
a  slave-holder.  All  the  work  on  the  plantations 
was  done  by  slaves,  and  no  other  method  was  sup- 
posed possible.  Washington  was  born  into  a  so- 
ciety where  slaves  were  held  as  a  matter  of  course, 
and  he  inherited  slaves.  At  that  time  the  right 
to  own  negroes  was  scarcely  questioned,  and  slaves 
were  held  throughout  the  colonies.  There  are  few 
things  that  test  the  character  of  a  man  more  than 
his  treatment  of  those  who  are  dependent  upon 
him,  —  his  servants,  his  workmen,  his  children. 
Washington  was  a  just  and  a  generous  master. 
He  cared  for  his  slaves,  not  merely  because  to 
have  them  well  and  strong  was  more  profitable, 
but  because  without  his  care  they  would  suffer. 
He  looked  after  them  in  their  sickness  because  he 
was  humane  and  compassionate.  He  also  re- 
quired good  work  of  them.  That  was  what  they 
were  for  —  to  work ;  and  he  knew  each  man's 
capacity.  He  watched  them  at  their  work,  and 
as  they  would  labor  more  industriously  when  he 
was  looking  on,  he  made  up  his  mind  what  they 
could  do,  and  then  expected  just  so  much  from 
them.  But  he  was  fair  in  all  this  ;  he  made  allow- 
ances for  different  kinds  of  work,  and  tried  to  be 
perfectly  just  in  his  requirements. 

He  even  worked  with  his  men,  and  that  was  a 


114  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

rare  thing  for  a  Virginia  planter  to  do.  He  kept 
a  diary  of  his  occupation,  so  that  we  can  follow 
the  farmer  day  after  day. 

This  is  the  busy  planter,  with  his  hands  full  of 
work  ;  but  there  was  another  kind  of  life  going  on, 
not  in  the  quarters,  or  the  field,  but  in  the  house. 
On  rainy  days,  Washington  took  down  his  ledger 
and  posted  it,  and  worked  over  his  accounts,  but 
he  was  also  the  hospitable  gentleman  who  opened 
his  doors  wide  to  guests.  Not  only  the  neighbor- 
ing families,  the  Fairfaxes,  and  others  came  and 
went,  but  the  man  who  had  been  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  Virginia  army  and  the  best-known 
military  man  in  America,  was  sure  to  be  visited 
by  every  one  of  distinction  who  passed  that 
way.  The  governors  of  Virginia  and  Maryland 
were  his  guests ;  and  he  himself  with  his  beautiful 
wife  were  welcomed  at  Williamsburg  and  Annap- 
olis and  the  country-seats  of  the  most  notable 
people. 

He  was  extremely  fond  of  society.  A  grave, 
silent  man  himself,  he  was  very  gallant  and 
courtly,  and  in  those  days  moved  through  the 
stately  minuet  with  a  fine  air.  He  admired  beau- 
tiful women,  and  he  liked  to  listen  to  good  talk- 
ers ;  he  rarely  laughed  loudly,  but  he  had  a  sly 
amusement  over  ludicrous  things ;  and  while  he 
kept  most  people  at  a  distance  by  his  serious  man- 
ners, he  had  the  love  of  children  and  young  people. 
After  all,  his  greatest  pleasure  was  in  those  sports 


WASHINGTON  AT  MOUNT  VERNON.          Ho 

which  were  akin  to  work  and  to  that  military  life 
which  had  been  his  passion.  He  was  always 
ready  for  a  fox-hunt.  As  in  his  younger  days  he 
had  ridden  with  Lord  Fairfax  and  the  Fairfaxes 
of  Belvoir,  so  now,  when  he  was  master  of  Mount 
Vernon,  he  and  his  friends  were  always  out  in  the 
season,  and  when  night  came,  the  party  would 
meet  at  one  house  or  the  other,  for  a  merry  sup- 
per, to  be  off  again  behind  the  hounds  early  the 
next  day. 

In  a  letter  describing  Mount  Vernon,  Washing- 
ton speaks  of  it  as  "  on  one  of  the  finest  rivers  in 
the  world  ;  a  river  well  stocked  with  various  kinds 
of  fish,  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and  in  the  spring 
with  shad,  herring,  bass,  carp,  sturgeon,  etc.,  in 
great  abundance.  The  borders  of  the  estate  are 
washed  by  more  than  ten  miles  of  tide-water ;  sev- 
eral valuable  fisheries  appertain  to  it ;  the  whole 
shore,  in  fact,  is  one  entire  fishery."  Here  was 
business  and  sport  combined,  and  it  was  a  great 
occasion  in  the  herring  season,  when  the  fish  came 
up  in  vast  shoals,  and  the  negroes  turned  out  to 
haul  in  the  seine  with  its  catch.  In  the  season  of 
canvas-back  ducks,  also,  Washington  was  out  with 
his  fowling-piece  early  and  late.  The  story  is  told 
that  he  had  been  much  annoyed  by  a  lawless  fel- 
low who  came  without  leave  to  shoot  on  the  estate. 
He  crossed  over  from  the  Maryland  shore,  and  hid 
his  boat  in  one  of  the  creeks.  One  day  Washing- 
ton heard  the  report  of  a  gun,  and  guessing  it  to 


116  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

be  that  of  this  man,  who  had  more  than  once  been 
warned  to  leave,  he  sprang  on  his  horse  and  rode 
in  the  direction  of  the  sound.  He  pushed  his  way 
through  the  bushes  just  as  the  man,  who  had  seen 
him  approach,  was  pushing  his  boat  off.  The 
trespasser  raised  his  gun,  and  aimed  it  at  Wash- 
ington, who  spurred  his  horse  at  once  into  the 
water  and  seized  the  boat  before  the  man  knew 
what  he  was  about.  Then  Washington,  who  had 
a  powerful  arm,  seized  the  fellow  and  gave  him 
a  sound  thrashing,  and  was  never  troubled  by  him 
again. 

There  was  always  a  Washington  to  surprise 
people.  There  was  the  still,  self -controlled,  grave 
man,  who  suddenly  flashed  forth  in  a  resolute  act, 
seizing  the  opportunity,  and  doing  the  one  thing 
which  was  instantly  demanded ;  and  there  was  the 
quick-tempered,  fiery  man  who  held  himself  in 
check,  waited  for  other  people  to  speak  and  act, 
and  then  came  forward  with  a  few  plain,  deliber- 
ate words,  which  showed  that  he  had  grasped  the 
whole  situation,  and  could  be  depended  on  to 
carry  through  his  resolution  patiently  and  persist- 
ently. 

There  were,  as  I  have  said,  few  towns  in  Vir- 
ginia. The  divisions  were  by  parishes,  after  the 
old  English  custom,  and  so  when  a  man  was  of 
importance  in  his  neighborhood  he  was  very  apt 
to  be  a  vestryman  in  his  parish.  Mount  Vernon 
was  in  Truro  parish,  and  Washington  was  a  vestry- 


WASHINGTON  AT  MOUNT  VERNON.          117 

man  there,  as  also  in  Fairfax  parish.  It  happened 
that  the  church  of  Truro  parish  had  fallen  into 
decay,  and  was  in  a  sorry  condition.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  build  a  new  one,  and  several  meetings  were 
held,  for  two  parties  had  sprung  up,  one  wishing 
to  rebuild  on  the  same  spot ;  and  another  urging 
some  location  more  convenient  to  the  parishioners, 
for  the  place  where  the  old  church  had  stood  was 
not  a  central  one.  Finally  a  meeting  was  called 
to  settle  the  matter.  One  of  Washington's  friends, 
George  Mason,  a  man  of  fine  speech,  rose  up  and 
spoke  most  eloquently  in  favor  of  holding  to  the 
old  site  ;  there  their  fathers  had  worshiped,  and 
there  had  their  bodies  been  laid  to  rest.  Every 
one  seemed  moved  and  ready  to  accept  Mason's 
proposal. 

Washington  had  also  come  prepared  with  a 
plea.  He  had  not  Mason's  power  of  speech,  but 
he  took  from  his  pocket  a  roll  of  paper  and  spread 
it  before  the  meeting.  On  this  sheet  he  had  drawn 
off  a  plan  of  Truro  parish  ;  upon  the  plan  were 
marked  plainly  the  site  of  the  old  church,  the 
place  where  every  parishioner  lived,  and  the  spot 
which  he  advised  as  the  site  for  the  new  church. 
He  said  very  little  ;  he  simply  showed  the  people 
his  survey,  and  let  them  see  for  themselves  that 
every  consideration  of  convenience  and  fairness 
pointed  to  the  new  site  as  the  one  to  be  chosen. 
It  was  central,  and  no  one  could  fail  to  see  that 
the  church  was  first  of  all  for  the  living.  His 


118  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

argument  was  the  argument  of  good  sense  and 
reasonableness,  and  it  carried  the  day  against 
Mason's  eloquent  speech.  Pohick  Church,  which 
was  built  on  the  new  site,  was  constructed  from 
plans  which  Washington  himself  drew. 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

A   VIRGINIA   BURGESS. 

BEFORE  Washington's  marriage,  and  while  he 
was  in  camp  near  Fort  Cumberland,  making  ac- 
tive preparations  for  the  campaign  against  Fort 
Duquesne,  there  was  an  election  for  members  of 
the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses.  Washington  of- 
fered himself  as  candidate  to  the  electors  of  Fred- 
erick County,  in  which  Winchester,  where  he  had 
been  for  the  past  three  years,  was  the  principal 
town.  His  friends  were  somewhat  fearful  that 
the  other  candidates,  who  were  on  the  ground, 
would  have  the  advantage  over  Washington,  who 
was  with  the  army,  at  a  distance  ;  and  they  wrote, 
urging  him  to  come  on  and  look  after  his  interests. 
Colonel  Bouquet,  under  whose  orders  he  was, 
cheerfully  gave  him  leave  of  absence,  but  Wash- 
ington replied :  — 

"I  had,  before  Colonel  Stephen  came  to  this 
place,  abandoned  all  thoughts  of  attending  per- 
sonally the  election  at  Winchester,  choosing  rather 
to  leave  the  management  of  that  affair  to  my 
friends,  than  be  absent  from  my  regiment,  when 
there  is  a  probability  of  its  being  called  to  duty. 
I  am  much  pleased  now,  that  I  did  so." 


120  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

Here  was  a  case  where  Washington  broke  his 
excellent  rule  of  —  "  If  you  want  a  thing  done,  do 
it  yourself."  If  his  regiment  was  to  lie  idle  at  Fort 
Cumberland,  he  could  easily  have  galloped  to 
Winchester,  and  have  been  back  in  a  few  days ; 
but  there  was  a  chance  that  it  might  move,  and 
so  he  gave  up  at  once  all  thought  of  leaving  it. 
Glad  enough  he  was  to  have  the  news  confirmed. 
To  lead  his  men  forward,  and  to  have  a  hand  in 
\the  capture  of  Fort  Duquesne,  was  the  first  thing 
—  the  election  must  take  care  of  itself.  This  was 
not  a  bad  statement  for  his  friends  at  Winchester 
to  make.  A  man  who  sticks  to  his  post,  and  does 
his  duty  without  regard  to  his  personal  interests, 
is  the  very  man  for  a  representative  in  the  legisla- 
ture. The  people  of  Frederick  knew  Washington 
thoroughly,  and  though  they  had  sometimes  felt 
his  heavy  hand,  they  gave  him  a  hearty  vote,  and 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  Bur- 
gesses. 

This  was  in  1758,  and  he  continued  to  serve  as 
a  member  for  the  next  fifteen  years.  There  is  a 
story  told  of  his  first  appearance  in  the  House. 
He  was  something  more  than  a  new  member ;  he 
was  the  late  commander-in-chief  of  the  Virginia 
army,  the  foremost  man,  in  a  military  way,  in  the 
province  ;  he  had  just  returned  from  the  successful 
expedition  against  Fort  Duquesne.  So  the  House 
resolved  to  welcome  him  in  a  manner  becoming  so 
gallant  a  Virginian,  and  it  passed  a  vote  of  thanks 


A  VIRGINIA  BURGESS.  121 

for  the  distinguished  military  services  he  had  ren- 
dered the  country.  The  Speaker,  Mr.  Robinson, 
rose  when  Washington  came  in  to  take  his  seat, 
and  made  a  little  speech  of  praise  and  welcome, 
presenting  the  thanks  of  the  House.  Every  one 
applauded  and  waited  for  the  tall  colonel  to  re- 
spond. There  he  stood,  blushing,  stammering, 
confused.  He  could  give  his  orders  to  his  men 
easily  enough,  and  he  could  even  say  what  was 
necessary  to  Mrs.  Martha  Custis  ;  but  to  address 
the  House  of  Burgesses  in  answer  to  a  vote  of 
thanks  —  that  was  another  matter !  Not  a  plain 
word  could  he  get  out.  It  was  a  capital  answer, 
and  the  Speaker  interpreted  it  to  the  House. 

"  Sit  down,  Mr.  Washington,"  said  he.  "  Your 
modesty  equals  your  valor,  and  that  surpasses  the 
power  of  any  language  I  possess." 

It  was  a  trying  ordeal  for  the  new  member,  and 
if  speech-making  had  been  his  chief  business  in 
the  House,  he  would  have  made  a  sorry  failure. 
He  rarely  made  a  speech,  and  never  a  long  one, 
but  for  all  that  he  was  a  valuable  member,  and 
his  reelection  at  every  term  showed  that  the  peo- 
ple understood  his  value.  If  there  was  any  work 
to  be  done,  any  important  committee  to  be  ap- 
pointed, Washington  could  be  counted  on,  and 
his  sound  judgment,  his  mature  experience,  and 
sense  of  honor,  made  his  opinion  one  which  every 
one  respected.  He  was  always  on  hand,  punctual, 
and  faithful ;  and  qualities  of  diligence  and  fidelity 


122  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

in  such  a  place,  when  combined  with  sound  judg- 
ment and  honor,  are  sure  to  tell  in  the  long  run. 
He  once  gave  a  piece  of  advice  to  a  nephew  who 
had  also  been  elected  to  the  House,  and  it  prob- 
ably was  the  result  of  his  own  experience  and  ob- 
servation. 

"  The  only  advice  I  will  offer,"  he  said,  "  if  you 
have  a  mind  to  command  the  attention  of  the 
House,  is  to  speak  seldom  but  on  important  sub- 
jects, except  such  as  particularly  relate  to  your 
constituents ;  and,  in  the  former  case,  make  your- 
self perfect  master  of  the  subject.  Never  exceed 
a  decent  warmth,  and  submit  your  sentiments  with 
diffidence.  A  dictatorial  style,  though  it  may 
carry  conviction,  is  always  accompanied  with  dis- 
gust." 

It  was  in  January,  1759,  that  Washington  took 
his  seat  in  the  House,  and  if  he  made  it  his 
rule  "to  speak  seldom  but  on  important  sub- 
jects," he  had  several  opportunities  to  speak  be- 
fore he  finally  left  the  Virginia  legislature  for  a 
more  important  gathering.  The  first  very  im- 
portant subject  was  the  Stamp  Act,  in  1765.  The 
British  government  had  passed  an  act  requiring 
the  American  colonies  to  place  a  stamp  upon  every 
newspaper  or  almanac  that  was  published,  upon 
every  marriage  certificate,  every  will,  every  deed, 
and  upon  other  legal  papers.  These  stamps  were 
to  be  sold  by  officers  of  the  crown,  and  the  money 
obtained  by  the  sale  was  to  be  used  to  pay  British 


A  VIRGINIA  BURGESS.  123 

soldiers  stationed  in  America  to  enforce  the  laws 
made  by  Parliament. 

The  colonies  were  aflame  with  indignation. 
They  declared  that  Parliament  had  no  right  to 
pass  such  an  act ;  that  the  Ministry  that  proposed 
it  was  about  an  unlawful  business;  and  that  it 
was  adding  insult  to  injury  to  send  over  soldiers 
to  enforce  such  laws.  People,  when  they  meet  on 
the  corner  of  the  street  and  discuss  public  mat- 
ters, are  usually  much  more  outspoken  than  when 
they  meet  in  legislatures  ;  but  the  American  colo- 
nists were  wont  to  talk  very  plainly  in  their  as- 
semblies, and  it  was  no  new  thing  for  the  repre- 
sentatives, chosen  by  the  people,  to  be  at  odds 
with  the  governor,  who  represented  the  British 
government.  So  when  Patrick  Henry  rose  in 
the  House  of  Burgesses,  with  his  resolutions  de- 
claring that  the  Stamp  Act  was  illegal,  and  that 
the  colony  of  Virginia  had  always  enjoyed  the 
right  of  governing  itself,  as  far  as  taxation  went, 
—  and  when  he  made  a  flaming  speech  which 
threatened  the  king,  there  was  great  confusion ; 
and  though  his  resolutions  were  passed,  there  was 
but  a  bare  majority. 

There  is  no  record  of  what  Washington  may 
have  said  or  how  he  voted  on  that  occasion,  but 
his  letters  show  that  he  thought  the  Stamp  Act  a 
very  unwise  proceeding  on  the  part  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  a  piece  of  oppression.  "  That  act,"  he 
says,  "  could  be  looked  upon  in  no  other  light  by 


124  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

every  person  who  would  view  it  in  its  proper 
colors."  But  he  did  not  rush  into  a  passion  over 
it.  Instead,  he  studied  it  coolly,  and  before  it  was 
repealed  wrote  at  some  length  to  his  wife's  uncle, 
who  was  living  in  London,  his  reasons  for  think- 
ing that  the  British  ministry  would  gain  nothing 
by  pressing  the  Stamp  Act  and  other  laws  which 
bore  hard  on  colonial  prosperity ;  for  he  held  that 
if  they  would  only  see  it,  the  colonies  were  as  nec- 
essary to  England  as  England  was  to  the  colonies. 
It  is  difficult  for  us  to-day  to  put  ourselves  in 
the  place  of  Washington  and  other  men  of  his 
time.  Washington  was  a  Virginian,  and  was  one 
of  the  legislature.  He  was  used  to  making  laws 
and  providing  for  the  needs  of  the  people  of  Vir- 
ginia, but  he  was  accustomed  to  look  beyond  Vir- 
ginia to  England.  There  the  king  was,  and  he 
was  one  of  the  subjects  of  the  king.  The  king's 
officers  came  to  Virginia,  and  when  Washington 
saw,  as  he  so  often  did,  a  British  man-of-war  lying 
in  the  river  off  Mount  Vernon,  his  mind  was 
thrilled  with  pleasure  as  he  thought  of  the  power 
of  the  empire  to  which  he  belonged.  He  had  seen 
the  British  soldiers  marching  against  the  French, 
and  he  had  himself  served  under  a  British  general. 
He  had  an  ardent  desire  to  go  to  England,  to  see 
London,  to  see  the  king  and  his  court,  and  Par- 
liament, and  the  Courts  of  Justice,  and  the  great 
merchants  who  made  the  city  famous ;  but  as  yet 
he  had  been  unable  to  go. 


A  VIRGINIA  BURGESS.  125 

He  had  seen  but  little  of  the  other  colonies.  He 
had  made  a  journey  to  Boston,  and  that  had  given 
him  some  acquaintance  with  men ;  but  wherevei 
he  went,  he  found  people  looking  eagerly  toward 
England  and  asking  what  the  ministry  there  would 
do  about  fighting  the  French  on  the  Western  bor- 
ders. Though  he  and  others  might  never  have 
seen  England,  it  was  the  centre  of  the  world  to 
them.  He  thought  of  the  other  colonies  not  so 
much  as  all  parts  of  one  great  country  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic,  as  each  separately  a  part  of  the 
British  Empire. 

After  all,  however,  and  most  of  all,  he  was  a 
Virginian.  In  Virginia  he  owned  land.  There 
was  his  home,  and  there  his  occupation.  He  was 
a  farmer,  a  planter  of  tobacco  and  wheat,  and  it 
was  his  business  to  sell  his  products.  As  for  the 
French,  they  were  enemies  of  Great  Britain,  but 
they  were  also  very  near  enemies  of  Virginia. 
They  were  getting  possession  of  land  in  Virginia 
itself  —  land  which  Washington  owned  in  part ; 
and  when  he  was  busily  engaged  in  driving  them 
out,  he  did  not  have  to  stop  and  think  of  France, 
he  needed  only  to  think  of  Fort  Duquesne,  a  few 
days'  march  to  the  westward. 

When,  therefore  he  found  the  British  govern- 
ment making  laws  which  made  him  pay  roundly 
for  sending  his  tobacco  to  market,  and  taxing  him 
as  if  there  were  no  Virginia  legislature  to  say 
what  taxes  the  people  could  and  should  pay,  he 


126  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

began  to  be  restless  and  dissatisfied.  England 
was  a  great  way  off ;  Virginia  was  close  at  hand. 
He  was  loyal  to  the  king  and  had  fought  under 
the  king's  officers,  but  if  the  king  cared  nothing 
for  his  loyalty,  and  only  wanted  his  pence,  his 
loyalty  was  likely  to  cool.  His  chief  resentment, 
however,  was  against  Parliament.  Parliament 
was  making  laws  and  laying  taxes.  But  what 
was  Parliament  ?  It  was  a  body  of  law-makers  in 
England,  just  as  the  House  of  Burgesses  was  in 
Virginia.  To  be  sure,  it  could  pass  laws  about 
navigation  which  concerned  all  parts  of  the  Brit- 
ish Empire  ;  but,  somehow,  it  made  these  laws 
very  profitable  to  England  and  very  disadvan- 
tageous to  Virginia.  Parliament,  however,  had  no 
right  to  pass  such  a  law  as  the  Stamp  Act.  That 
was  making  a  special  law  for  the  American  col- 
onies, and  taking  away  a  right  which  belonged  to 
the  colonial  assemblies. 

Washington  had  grown  up  with  an  intense  love 
of  law,  and  in  this  he  was  like  other  American 
Englishmen.  In  England  there  were  very  few 
persons  who  made  the  laws,  the  vast  majority  had 
nothing  to  do  but  to  obey  the  laws.  Yet  it  is 
among  the  makers  of  laws  that  the  love  of  law 
prevails ;  and  since  in  America  a  great  many  more 
Englishmen  had  to  do  with  government  in  colony 
and  in  town  than  in  England,  there  were  more 
who  passionately  insisted  upon  the  law  being  ob- 
served. An  unlawful  act  was  to  them  an  outrage. 


A  VIRGINIA  BURGESS.  127 

When  they  said  that  England  was  oppressing 
them,  and  making  them  slaves,  they  did  not  mean 
that  they  wanted  liberty  to  do  what  they  pleased, 
but  that  they  wanted  to  be  governed  by  just  laws, 
made  by  the  men  who  had  the  right  to  make  laws. 
And  that  right  belonged  to  the  legislatures,  to 
which  they  sent  representatives. 

So  it  was  out  of  his  love  of  law  and  justice  that 
Washington  and  others  protested  against  the 
Stamp  Act ;  and  when  the  act  was  repealed  they 
threw  up  their  hats  and  hurrahed,  not  because 
they  now  should  not  have  to  buy  and  use  stamps, 
but  because  by  repealing  the  act  Parliament  had 
as  much  as  said  that  it  was  an  unlawful  act.  How- 
ever, this  was  an  unwilling  admission  on  the  part 
of  Parliament,  which  repealed  the  act,  but  said  at 
once  :  "  We  can  tax  you  if  we  choose  to." 

In  fact,  Parliament  stupidly  tried  soon  after  to 
prove  that  it  had  the  right  by  imposing  duties  on 
tea,  paper,  glass,  and  painters'  colors.  But  the 
people  in  the  colonies  were  on  the  alert.  They 
had  really  been  governing  themselves  so  long  that 
now,  when  Parliament  tried  to  get  the  power  away 
from  them,  they  simply  went  on  using  their  power. 
They  did  this  in  two  ways ;  the  colonial  govern- 
ments again  asserted  their  rights  in  the  case,  and 
the  people  began  to  form  associations,  in  which 
they  bound  themselves  not  to  buy  goods  of  Eng- 
land until  the  offensive  act  was  repealed.  This 
Utter  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  movements 


128  GEORGE  WASHINGTON, 

in  the  breaking  away  of  the  colonies  from  Eng- 
land. It  was  a  popular  movement;  it  did  not 
depend  upon  what  this  or  that  colonial  assembly 
might  do ;  it  was  perfectly  lawful,  and  so  far  as 
it  was  complete  it  was  effective.  Yet  all  the  while 
the  movement  was  doing  more,  and  what  but  a 
very  few  detected ;  it  was  binding  the  scattered 
people  in  the  colonies  together. 

Washington  took  a  great  deal  of  interest  in 
these  associations,  and  belonged  to  one  himself. 
He  was  growing  exceedingly  impatient  of  English 
misrule,  and  saw  clearly  to  what  it  was  leading. 
"  At  a  time,"  he  says,  "  when  our  lordly  masters 
in  Great  Britain  will  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less 
than  the  deprivation  of  American  freedom,  it 
seems  highly  necessary  that  something  should  be 
done  to  avert  the  stroke,  and  maintain  the  liberty 
which  we  have  derived  from  our  ancestors.  But 
the  manner  of  doing  it  to  answer  the  purpose 
effectually  is  the  point  in  question.  That  no  man 
should  scruple,  or  hesitate  a  moment,  to  use  arms 
in  defense  of  so  valuable  a  blessing,  is  clearly  my 
opinion.  Yet  arms,  I  would  beg  leave  to  add, 
should  be  the  last  resort.  We  have  already,  it  is 
said,  proved  the  inefficacy  of  addresses  to  the 
throne,  and  remonstrances  to  Parliament.  How 
far,  then,  their  attention  to  our  rights  and  privi- 
leges is  to  be  awakened  or  alarmed  by  starving 
their  trade  and  manufactures  remains  to  be  tried." 

He  took  the  lead  in  forming  an  association  in 


A  VIRGINIA  BURGESS.  129 

Virginia,  and  he  kept  scrupulously  to  his  agree- 
ment ;  for  when  he  sent  his  orders  to  London,  he 
was  very  careful  to  instruct  his  correspondents  to 
send  him  none  of  the  goods  unless  the  Act  of  Par- 
liament had  meantime  been  repealed.  As  the 
times  grew  more  exciting,  Washington  watched 
events  steadily.  He  took  no  step  backward,  but 
he  moved  forward  deliberately  and  with  firmness. 
He  did  not  allow  himself  to  be  carried  away  by 
the  passions  of  the  time.  It  was  all  very  well, 
some  said,  to  stop  buying  from  England,  but  let 
us  stop  selling  also.  They  need  our  tobacco. 
Suppose  we  refuse  to  send  it  unless  Parliament 
repeals  the  act.  Washington  stood  out  against 
that  except  as  a  final  resource,  and  for  the  reason 
which  he  stated  in  a  letter :  — 

"  I  am  convinced,  as  much  as  I  am  of  my  own  exist- 
ence, that  there  is  no  relief  for  us  but  in  their  distress ; 
and  I  think,  at  least  I  hope,  that  there  is  public  virtue 
enough  left  among  us  to  deny  ourselves  everything  but 
the  bare  necessaries  of  life  to  accomplish  this  end.  This 
we  have  a  right  to  do,  and  no  power  upon  earth  can 
compel  us  to  do  otherwise,  till  it  has  first  reduced  us  to 
the  most  abject  state  of  slavery.  The  stopping  of  our 
exports  would,  no  doubt,  be  a  shorter  method  than  the 
other  to  effect  this  purpose ;  but  if  we  owe  money  to 
Great  Britain,  nothing  but  the  last  necessity  can  justify 
the  non-payment  of  it ;  and,  therefore,  I  have  great 
doubts  upon  this  head,  and  wish  to  see  the  other  method 
first  tried,  which  is  legal  and  will  facilitate  these  pay- 
ments." 


130  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

That  is,  by  the  economy  necessarily  preached, 
the  people  would  save  money  with  which  to  pay 
their  debts. 

Washington  had  been  at  the  front  in  the  House 
of  Burgesses,  in  his  own  county,  and  among  the 
people  generally.  He  was  a  member  of  the  con- 
vention called  to  meet  at  Williamsburg ;  and  he 
was  appointed  by  that  convention  one  of  seven 
delegates  to  attend  the  first  Continental  Congress 
at  Philadelphia. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS. 

NEAR  the  end  of  August,  1774,  Patrick  Henry 
and  Edmund  Pendleton,  two  of  the  delegates  from 
Virginia  to  the  first  Continental  Congress,  rode 
from  their  homes  to  Mount  Vernon  and  made 
a  short  visit.  Then,  on  the  last  day  of  the  month, 
Washington  mounted  his  horse  also,  and  the  three 
friends  started  for  Philadelphia  to  attend  the  Con- 
gress, which  was  called  to  meet  on  the  5th  of 
September.  Pendleton  was  a  dozen  years  older 
than  Washington,  and  Henry  was  the  youngest  of 
the  party.  He  was  the  most  fiery  in  speech,  and 
more  than  once,  in  recent  conventions,  had  carried 
his  hearers  away  by  his  bold  words.  He  was  the 
most  eloquent  man  in  the  colonies,  —  of  rude  ap- 
pearance, but  when  once  wrought  up  by  excite- 
ment, able  to  pour  out  a  torrent  of  words. 

For  my  part,  I  would  rather  have  heard  the 
speech  which  Washington  made  at  the  convention 
in  Williamsburg  in  the  August  before,  when  he 
rose  to  read  the  resolution  which  he  and  his 
neighbors  had  passed  at  their  meeting  in  Fairfax 
County.  The  eloquence  of  a  man  who  is  a  famous 
orator  is  not  quite  so  convincing  as  that  of  a  man 


132  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

of  action,  who  rarely  speaks,  but  who  is  finally 
stirred  by  a  great  occasion.  People  were  used  to 
hearing  Washington  say  a  few  words  in  a  slow, 
hesitating,  deliberate  way ;  and  they  knew  that 
he  had  carefully  considered  beforehand  what 
words  he  should  use.  But  this  time  he  was  terri- 
bly in  earnest,  and  when  he  had  read  the  resolu- 
tion, he  spoke  as  no  one  had  heard  him  before. 
He  was  a  passionate  man,  who  had  his  anger  under 
control ;  but  when  it  occasionally  burst  out,  it  was 
as  if  a  dam  to  a  stream  had  given  way.  And  now 
he  was  consumed  with  indignation  at  the  manner 
in  which  Great  Britain  was  treating  the  colonies. 
He  was  ready,  he  said,  to  raise  a  regiment  of  a 
thousand  men,  pay  all  their  expenses,  and  lead 
them  to  Boston  to  drive  out  the  king's  soldiers. 

The  three  men,  therefore,  must  have  talked 
long  and  earnestly  as  they  rode  to  Philadelphia  ; 
for  the  Congress  which  they  were  to  attend  was 
the  first  one  to  which  all  the  colonies  were  invited 
to  send  delegates.  It  was  to  consider  the  cause 
of  the  whole  people,  and  Virginia  was  to  see  in 
Massachusetts  not  a  rival  colony,  but  one  with 
which  she  had  common  cause.  The  last  time 
Washington  had  gone  over  the  road  he  had  been 
on  an  errand  to  the  king's  chief  representative  in 
America,  the  commander-in-chief,  Governor  Shir- 
ley, and  one  matter  which  he  had  held  very  much 
at  heart  had  been  his  own  commission  as  an  offi- 
cer in  his  Majesty's  army.  He  was  on  a  different 


THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS.  133 

errand  now.  Still,  like  the  men  who  were  most 
in  earnest  at  that  time,  he  was  thinking  how  the 
colonies  could  secure  their  rights  as  colonies,  not 
how  they  might  break  away  from  England  and 
set  up  for  themselves. 

They  were  five  days  on  the  road,  and  on  Sep- 
tember the  4th  they  breakfasted  near  New  Castle, 
in  Delaware,  dined  at  Chester,  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  in  the  evening  were  in  Philadelphia,  at  the 
City  Tavern,  which  stood  on  Second  Street,  above 
Walnut  Street,  and  was  the  meeting-place  of  most 
of  the  delegates.  Washington,  however,  though 
he  was  often  at  the  City  Tavern,  had  his  lodging 
at  Dr.  Shippen's.  The  Congress  met  the  next 
day  at  Carpenters'  Hall,  and  was  in  session  for 
seven  weeks.  The  first  two  or  three  days  were 
especially  exciting  to  the  members.  There  they 
were,  fifty-one  men,  from  all  the  colonies  save 
Georgia,  met  to  consult  together  —  Englishmen 
who  sang  "  God  save  the  king,"  but  asked  also 
what  right  the  king  had  to  act  as  he  had  done 
toward  Boston.  They  did  not  know  one  another 
well  at  the  beginning.  There  was  no  man  among 
them  who  could  be  called  famous  beyond  his  own 
colony,  unless  it  were  George  Washington.  Up  to 
this  time  the  different  colonies  had  lived  so  apart 
from  one  another,  each  concerned  about  its  own 
affairs,  that  there  had  been  little  opportunity  for 
a  man  to  be  widely  known. 

So,  as  they  looked  at  one  another  at  the  City 


134  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

Tavern,  or  at  Carpenters'  Hall  when  they  met, 
each  man  was  wondering  who  would  take  the 
lead.  Virginia  was  the  largest  and  most  im- 
portant colony.  Massachusetts  had  a  right  to 
speak,  because  she  had  called  the  convention,  and 
because  it  was  in  Boston  that  the  people  were  suf- 
fering most  from  the  action  of  the  British  Par- 
liament. Perhaps  the  two  most  conspicuous 
members  at  first  were  Patrick  Henry  of  Virginia, 
and  Samuel  Adams  of  Massachusetts ;  but  in  the 
seven  weeks  of  the  session,  others  showed  their 
good  judgment  and  patriotism.  Patrick  Henry 
was  asked  after  he  returned  to  Virginia  whom  he 
considered  the  greatest  man  in  the  Congress,  and 
he  replied :  "  If  you  speak  of  eloquence,  Mr.  Rut- 
ledge  of  South  Carolina  is  by  far  the  greatest 
orator ;  but  if  you  speak  of  solid  information  and 
sound  judgment,  Colonel  Washington  is  unques- 
tionably the  greatest  man  on  the  floor." 

Washington  carried  on  the  methods  which  he 
had  always  practiced.  He  attended  the  sessions 
punctually  and  regularly ;  he  listened  to  what 
others  had  to  say,  and  gave  his  own  opinion  only 
after  he  had  carefully  formed  it.  It  is  an  ex- 
ample of  the  thoroughness  with  which  he  made 
himself  master  of  every  subject,  that  he  used  to 
copy  in  his  own  hand  the  important  papers  which 
were  laid  before  Congress,  such  as  the  petition  to 
the  king  which  was  agreed  upon.  This  he  would 
do  deliberately  and  exactly,  —  it  was  like  commit- 


THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS.  135 

ting  the  paper  to  memory.  Besides  this,  he  made 
abstracts  of  other  papers,  stating  the  substance  of 
them  in  a  few  clear  words. 

The  greater  part  of  each  day  was  occupied  in 
the  Congress,  but  besides  the  regular  business, 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  informal  talk  among  the 
members.  They  were  full  of  the  subject,  and 
used  to  meet  to  discuss  affairs  at  dinner,  or  in 
knots  about  the  fire  at  the  City  Tavern.  Phila- 
delphia was  then  the  most  important  city  in  the 
country,  and  there  were  many  men  of  wide  expe- 
rience living  in  it.  Washington  went  everywhere 
by  invitation.  He  dined  with  the  Chief  Justice, 
with  the  Mayor,  and  with  all  the  notable  people. 

In  this  way  he  was  able  to  become  better  ac- 
quainted both  with  the  state  of  affairs  in  other 
colonies  and  with  the  way  the  most  intelligent 
people  were  thinking  about  the  difficulties  of  the 
time.  The  first  Continental  Congress  gave  ex- 
pression to  the  deliberate  judgment  of  the  colonies 
upon  the  acts  of  Great  Britain.  It  protested 
against  the  manner  in  which  Parliament  was 
treating  the  colonies.  It  declared  firmly  and  sol- 
emnly that  as  British  subjects  the  people  of  the 
colonies  owed  no  allegiance  to  Parliament,  in 
which  they  had  no  representatives ;  that  their 
own  legislatures  alone  had  the  right  to  lay  taxes. 
But  after  all,  the  great  advantage  of  this  first 
Congress  was  in  the  opportunity  which  it  gave 
for  representatives  from  the  different  colonies  to 


136  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

become  acquainted  with  one  another,  and  thus  to 
make  all  parts  of  the  country  more  ready  to  act 
together. 

It  was  only  now  and  then  that  any  one  suggested 
the  independence  of  the  colonies.  Washington, 
like  a  few  others,  thought  it  possible  the  colonies 
might  have  to  arm  and  resist  the  unlawful  attempt 
to  force  unconstitutional  laws  upon  them  ;  but  he 
did  not,  at  this  time,  go  so  far  as  to  propose  a 
separation  from  England.  He  had  a  friend  among 
the  British  officers  in  Boston,  one  of  his  old  com- 
rades in  the  war  against  France,  a  Captain  Mac- 
kenzie, who  wrote  to  him,  complaining  of  the  way 
the  Boston  people  were  behaving.  Captain  Mac- 
kenzie, very  naturally,  as  an  officer,  saw  only  a 
troublesome,  rebellious  lot  of  people  whom  it  was 
the  business  of  the  army  to  put  down.  Washing- 
ton wrote  earnestly  to  him,  trying  to  show  him  the 
reason  why  the  people  felt  as  they  did,  and  the 
wrong  way  of  looking  at  the  subject  which  Captain 
Mackenzie  and  other  officers  had.  He  expressed 
his  sorrow  that  fortune  should  have  placed  his 
friend  in  a  service  that  was  sure  to  bring  down 
vengeance  upon  those  engaged  in  it.  He  went  on  : 

"  I  do  not  mean  by  this  to  insinuate  that  an  officer  is 
not  to  discharge  his  duty,  even  when  chance,  not  choice, 
has  placed  him  in  a  disagreeable  situation  ;  but  I  con- 
ceive, when  you  condemn  the  conduct  of  the  Massachu- 
setts people,  you  reason  from  effects,  not  causes  ;  other- 
wise you  would  not  wonder  at  a  people,  who  are  every 


THE  CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS.  137 

day  receiving  fresh  proofs  of  a  systematic  assertion  of 
an  arbitrary  power,  deeply  planned  to  overturn  the  laws 
and  constitution  of  their  country,  and  to  violate  the 
most  essential  and  valuable  rights  of  mankind,  being 
irritated,  and  with  difficulty  restrained  from  acts  of  the 
greatest  violence  and  intemperance.  For  my  own  part, 
I  confess  to  you  candidly,  that  I  view  things  in  a  very 
different  point  of  light  from  the  one  in  which  you  seem 
to  consider  them  ;  and  though  you  are  taught  by  venal 
men  ...  to  believe  that  the  people  of  Massachusetts 
are  rebellious,  setting  up  for  independency,  and  what 
not,  give  me  leave,  my  good  friend,  to  tell  you,  that  you 
are  abused,  grossly  abused.  .  .  .  Give  me  leave  to  add, 
and  I  think  I  can  announce  it  as  a  fact,  that  it  is  not 
the  wish  or  interest  of  that  government,  or  any  other 
upon  this  continent,  separately  or  collectively,  to  set  up 
for  independence  ;  but  this  you  may  at  the  same  time 
rely  on,  that  none  of  them  will  ever  submit  to  the  loss 
of  those  valuable  rights  and  privileges  which  are  essen- 
tial to  the  happiness  of  every  free  state,  and  without 
which,  life,  liberty,  and  property  are  rendered  totally 
insecure." 

It  was  with  such  a  belief  as  this  that  Washing- 
ton went  back  to  Mount  Vernon,  and  while  he  was 
occupied  with  his  engrossing  private  affairs,  busied 
himself  also  with  organizing  and  drilling  soldiers. 
Independent  companies  were  formed  all  over  Vir- 
ginia, and  one  after  another  placed  themselves 
under  his  command.  Although,  by  the  custom 
of  those  companies,  each  was  independent  of  the 
others,  yet  by  choosing  the  same  commander  they 


138  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

virtually  made  Washington  commander-in-chief 
of  the  Virginia  volunteers.  He  was  the  first  mili- 
tary man  in  the  colony,  and  every  one  turned  to 
him  for  advice  and  instruction.  So  through  the 
winter  and  spring  he  was  constantly  on  the  move, 
going  to  one  place  after  another  to  review  the 
companies  which  had  been  formed. 

I  think  that  winter  and  spring  of  1775  must 
have  been  a  somewhat  sorrowful  one  to  George 
Washington,  and  that  he  must  have  felt  as  if  a 
great  change  were  coming  in  his  life.  His  wife's 
daughter  had  died,  and  he  missed  her  sadly. 
Young  John  Custis  had  married  and  gone  away 
to  live.  The  sound  of  war  was  heard  on  all 
sides,  and  among  the  visitors  to  Mount  Vernon 
were  some  who  afterward  were  to  be  generals  in 
the  American  army.  He  still  rode  occasionally 
after  the  hounds,  but  the  old  days  of  fun  were 
gone.  George  William  Fairfax  had  gone  back 
to  England,  and  the  jolly  company  at  Belvoir  was 
scattered.  The  house  itself  there  had  caught  fire 
and  burned  to  the  ground. 

But  the  time  for  action  was  at  hand.  Washing- 
ton turned  from  his  home  and  his  fox-hunting  to 
go  to  Richmond  as  a  delegate  to  a  second  Virginia 
convention.  It  was  called  to  hear  the  reports  of 
the  delegates  to  Philadelphia  and  to  see  what  fur- 
ther was  to  be  done.  It  was  clear  to  some,  and  to 
Washington  among  them,  that  the  people  must  be 
ready  for  the  worst.  They  had  shown  themselves  in 


THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS.  139 

earnest  by  all  the  training  they  had  been  going 
through  as  independent  companies.  Now  let 
those  companies  be  formed  into  a  real  army.  It 
was  idle  to  send  any  more  petitions  to  the  king. 

"  We  must  fight !  "  exclaimed  Patrick  Henry ; 
"  I  repeat  it,  sir ;  we  must  fight !  An  appeal  to 
arms  and  the  God  of  Hosts  is  all  that  is  left  us !  " 

A  committee,  of  which  Washington  was  one, 
was  appointed  to  report  a  plan  for  an  army  of 
Virginia. 

But  when  people  make  up  their  minds  to  fight, 
they  know  very  well,  if  they  are  sensible,  that 
more  than  half  the  task  before  them  is  to  find 
means  for  feeding  and  clothing  not  only  the  troops 
but  the  people  who  are  dependent  on  the  troops. 
Therefore  the  convention  appointed  another  com- 
mittee, of  which  Washington  also  was  a  member, 
to  devise  a  plan  for  encouraging  manufactures,  so 
that  the  people  could  do  without  England.  Here- 
tofore, the  Virginians  had  done  scarcely  any  man- 
ufacturing; nearly  everything  they  needed  they 
had  bought  from  England  with  tobacco.  But  if 
they  were  to  be  at  war  with  England,  they  must 
be  making  ready  to  provide  for  themselves.  It 
was  late  in  the  day  to  do  anything ;  slavery, 
though  they  did  not  then  see  it  clearly,  had  made 
a  variety  of  industries  impossible.  However,  the 
people  were  advised  to  form  associations  to  pro- 
mote the  raising  of  wool,  cotton,  flax,  and  hemp, 
and  to  encourage  the  use  of  home  manufactures. 


140  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

Washington  was  again  chosen  one  of  the  dele- 
gates  to  the  Continental  Congress,  for  the  second 
Congress  had  been  called  to  meet  at  Philadelphia. 
He  was  even  readier  to  go  than  before.  On  the 
day  when  he  was  chosen,  he  wrote  to  his  brother 
John  Augustine  Washington  :  "  It  is  my  full  in- 
tention to  devote  my  life  and  fortune  to  the  cause 
we  are  engaged  in,  if  needful." 

That  was  at  the  end  of  March.  The  second 
Continental  Congress  was  to  meet  on  May  10  ; 
and  just  before  Washington  left  Mount  Vernon 
came  the  news  of  Lexington  and  Concord.  Curi- 
ously enough,  the  governor  of  Virginia  had  done 
just  what  Governor  Gage  had  attempted  to  do; 
he  had  seized  some  powder  which  was  stored  at 
Fredericksburg,  and  placed  it  for  safety  on  board 
a  vessel  of  the  British  navy.  The  independent 
companies  at  once  met  and  called  upon  Washing- 
ton to  take  command  of  them,  that  they  might 
compel  the  governor  to  restore  the  powder. 
Washington  kept  cool.  The  governor  promised 
to  restore  the  powder,  and  Washington  advised 
the  people  to  wait  to  see  what  Congress  would  do. 

When  Congress  met,  the  men  who  came  to- 
gether were  no  longer  strangers  to  one  another. 
They  had  parted  warm  friends  the  previous  fall ; 
they  had  gone  to  their  several  homes  and  now  had 
come  back  more  determined  than  ever,  and  more 
united.  Every  one  spoke  of  Lexington  and  Con- 
cord ;  and  the  Massachusetts  men  told  how  large 


THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS.  141 

an  army  had  already  gathered  around  Boston. 
But  it  was  an  army  made  up  not  only  of  Massa- 
chusetts men,  but  of  men  from  Connecticut,  Rhode 
Island,  and  New  Hampshire.  It  was  plain  that 
there  must  be  some  authority  over  such  an  army, 
and  the  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts 
wrote  to  the  Continental  Congress  at  Philadelphia, 
advising  that  body  to  assume  control  of  all  the 
forces,  to  raise  a  continental  army,  appoint  a  com- 
mander, and  do  whatever  else  was  necessary  to 
prepare  for  war.  There  had  already  been  fight- 
ing ;  there  was  an  army ;  and  it  was  no  longer  a 
war  between  Massachusetts  and  Great  Britain. 

I  do  not  know  what  other  delegates  to  the  Con- 
gress at  Philadelphia  came  as  soldiers,  but  there 
was  one  tall  Virginian  present  who  wore  his  mili- 
tary coat ;  and  when  the  talk  fell  upon  appointing 
a  commander,  all  eyes  were  turned  toward  him. 
Every  one,  however,  felt  the  gravity  and  delicacy 
of  the  situation.  Here  was  an  army  adopted  by 
Congress  ;  but  it  was  a  New  England  army,  and 
if  the  struggle  were  to  come  at  Boston,  it  was  natu- 
ral that  the  troops  should  mainly  come  from  that 
neighborhood.  The  colonies  were  widely  sepa- 
rated ;  they  had  not  acted  much  together.  Would 
it  not  be  better,  would  it  not  save  ill-feeling,  if  a 
New  England  man  were  to  command  this  New 
England  army? 

There  were  some  who  thought  thus ;  and  besides, 
there  was  still  a  good  deal  of  difference  of  opinion 


142  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

as  to  the  course  to  be  pursued.  Some  were  ready 
for  independence;  others,  and  perhaps  the  most, 
hoped  to  bring  the  British  to  terms.  Parties 
were  rising  in  Congress ;  petty  jealousies  were 
showing  themselves,  when  suddenly  John  Adams 
of  Massachusetts,  seeing  into  what  perplexities 
they  were  drifting,  came  forward  with  a  distinct 
proposition  that  Congress  should  adopt  the  army 
before  Boston  and  appoint  a  commander.  He  did 
not  name  Washington,  but  described  him  as  a  cer- 
tain gentleman  from  Virginia  "  who  could  unite 
the  cordial  exertions  of  all  the  colonies  better 
than  any  other  person."  No  one  doubted  who  was 
meant,  and  Washington,  confused  and  agitated, 
left  the  room  at  once. 

Nothing  else  was  now  talked  of.  The  delegates 
discussed  the  matter  in  groups  and  small  circles, 
and  a  few  days  afterward  a  Maryland  delegate 
formally  nominated  George  Washington  to  be 
commander-in-chief  of  the  American  army.  He 
was  unanimously  elected,  but  the  honor  of  bringing 
him  distinctly  before  the  Congress  belongs  to  John 
Adams.  It  seems  now  a  very  natural  thing  to  do, 
but  really  it  was  something  which  required  wisdom 
and  courage.  When  one  sums  up  all  Washing- 
ton's military  experience  at  this  time,  it  was  not 
great,  or  such  as  to  point  him  out  as  unmistakably 
the  leader  of  the  American  army.  There  was  a 
general  then  in  command  at  Cambridge,  who  had 
seen  more  of  war  than  Washington  had.  But 


THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS.  143 

Washington  was  the  leading  military  man  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  it  was  for  this  reason  that  John  Adams, 
as  a  New  England  man,  urged  his  election.  The 
Congress  had  done  something  to  bring  the  colonies 
together ;  the  war  was  to  do  more,  but  probably 
no  single  act  really  had  a  more  far-reaching  sig- 
nificance in  making  the  Union,  than  the  act  of 
nominating  the  Virginian  Washington  by  the  New 
England  Adams. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

UNDER  THE   OLD   ELM. 

IT  was  on  the  15th  day  of  June,  1775,  that 
George  Washington  was  chosen  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  American  army.  The  next  day  he 
made  his  answer  to  Congress,  in  which  he  de- 
clared that  he  accepted  the  office,  but  that  he 
would  take  no  pay ;  he  would  keep  an  exact  ac- 
count of  his  expenses,  but  he  would  give  his  ser- 
vices to  his  country.  There  was  no  time  to  be 
lost.  He  could  not  go  home  to  bid  his  wife  good- 
by,  and  he  did  not  know  when  he  would  see  her 
again,  so  he  wrote  her  as  follows  :  — 

"  PHILADELPHIA,  18th  June,  1775. 

"  MY  DEAREST  :  I  am  now  set  down  to  write  to 
you  on  a  subject  which  fills  me  with  inexpressible 
concern,  and  this  concern  is  greatly  aggravated  and  in- 
creased when  I  reflect  upon  the  uneasiness  I  know  it 
will  give  you.  It  has  been  determined  in  Congress 
that  the  whole  army  raised  for  the  defense  of  the 
American  cause  shall  be  put  under  my  care,  and  that 
it  is  necessary  for  me  to  proceed  immediately  to  Boston 
to  take  upon  me  the  command  of  it. 

"  You  may  believe  me,  my  dear  Patsy,  when  I  as- 
sure you  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  that,  so  far  from 


UNDER   THE  OLD  ELM.  145 

seeking  this  appointment,  I  have  used  every  endeavor 
in  my  power  to  avoid  it,  not  only  from  my  unwilling- 
ness to  part  with  you  and  the  family,  but  from  a  con- 
sciousness of  it  being  a  trust  too  great  for  my  capacity, 
and  that  I  should  enjoy  more  real  happiness  in  one 
month  with  you  at  home  than  I  have  the  most  distant 
prospect  of  finding  abroad,  if  my  stay  were  to  be  seven 
times  seven  years.  But,  as  it  has  been  a  kind  of  des- 
tiny that  has  thrown  me  upon  this  service,  I  shall  hope 
that  my  undertaking  it  is  designed  to  answer  some 
good  purpose.  You  might,  and  I  suppose  did  perceive, 
from  the  tenor  of  my  letters,  that  I  was  apprehensive 
I  could  not  avoid  this  appointment,  as  I  did  not  pre- 
tend to  intimate  when  I  should  return.  That  was  the 
case.  It  was  utterly  out  of  my  power  to  refuse  this 
appointment,  without  exposing  my  character  to  such 
censures  as  would  have  reflected  dishonor  upon  myself 
and  given  pain  to  my  friends." 

That  is  to  say,  he  could  not  refuse  the  appoint- 
ment without  laying  himself  open  to  the  charge 
of  being  a  coward  and  afraid  to  run  the  risk,  or  a 
selfish  man  who  preferred  his  own  ease  and  com- 
fort. He  was  neither.  He  was  a  courageous 
man,  as  he  had  always  shown  himself  to  be,  and 
he  was  unselfish,  for  he  was  giving  up  home  and 
property,  and  undertaking  a  life  of  the  greatest 
difficulty  in  the  service  of  —  what  ?  His  coun- 
try ?  Yes.  But  we  must  remember  that  Virginia 
was  his  country  more  than  all  the  colonies  were, 
and  at  present  it  was  only  Massachusetts  that 
stood  in  peril.  Of  course  every  one  is  impelled 


146  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

to  do  great  things  by  more  than  one  motive. 
Washington  was  a  soldier,  and  his  blood  tingled 
as  he  thought  of  being  commander-in-chief,  and 
doing  the  most  that  a  soldier  could ;  but  he  was, 
above  all,  a  man  who  had  a  keen  sense  of  right 
and  wrong.  He  saw  that  England  was  wrong 
and  was  doing  injustice  to  America.  The  injus- 
tice did  not  at  once  touch  him  as  a  planter,  as  a 
man  who  was  making  money ;  it  touched  him  as 
a  free  man  who  was  obedient  to  the  laws  ;  and  he 
was  ready  to  give  up  everything  to  help  right  the 
wrongs. 

Washington  left  Philadelphia  on  his  way  to 
Boston,  June  21,  escorted  by  a  troop  of  horsemen, 
and  accompanied  by  Schuyler  and  Lee,  who  had 
just  been  made  major-generals  by  Congress.  They 
had  gone  about  twenty  miles  when  they  saw  a  man 
on  horseback  coming  rapidly  down  the  road.  It 
was  a  messenger  riding  post-haste  to  Philadelphia, 
and  carrying  to  Congress  news  of  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill.  Everybody  was  stirred  by  the  news 
and  wanted  to  know  the  particulars. 

"  Why  were  the  Provincials  compelled  to  re- 
treat ?  "  he  was  asked. 

"  It  was  for  want  of  ammunition,"  he  replied. 

"  Did  they  stand  the  fire  of  the  regular  troops  ?  " 
asked  Washington  anxiously. 

"  That  they  did,  and  held  their  own  fire  in  re- 
serve until  the  enemy  was  within  eight  rods." 

"  Then  the  liberties  of  the  country  are  safe  !  " 

\ 


UNDER   THE    OLD  ELM.  147 

exclaimed  Washington.  He  remembered  well 
the  scenes  under  Braddock,  and  he  knew  what  a 
sight  it  must  have  been  to  those  New  England 
farmers  when  a  compact  body  of  uniformed  sol- 
diers came  marching  up  from  the  boats  at  Charles- 
town.  If  they  could  stand  fearlessly,  there  was 
stuff  in  them  to  make  soldiers  of. 

All  along  the  route  the  people  in  the  towns 
turned  out  to  see  Washington's  cavalcade,  and  at 
Newark  a  committee  of  the  New  York  Provincial 
Congress  met  to  escort  him  to  the  city.  There  he 
left  General  Schuyler  in  command,  and  hurried 
forward  to  Cambridge,  for  the  news  of  Bunker 
Hill  made  him  extremely  anxious  to  reach  the 
army. 

In  New  England,  the  nearer  he  came  to  the 
seat  of  war,  the  more  excited  and  earnest  he 
found  the  people.  At  every  town  he  was  met  by 
the  citizens  and  escorted  through  that  place  to  the 
next.  This  was  done  at  New  Haven.  The  colle- 
gians all  turned  out,  and  they  had  a  small  band 
of  music,  at  the  head  of  which,  curiously  enough, 
was  a  freshman  who  afterward  made  some  stir  in 
the  world.  It  was  Noah  Webster,  the  man  of  spell- 
ing-book and  dictionary  fame.  At  Springfield, 
the  party  was  met  by  a  committee  of  the  Provin- 
cial Congress  of  Massachusetts,  and  at  last,  on 
the  2d  of  July,  he  came  to  Watertown,  where  he 
was  welcomed  by  the  Provincial  Congress  itself, 
which  was  in  session  there. 


148  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

It  was  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
same  day  that  Washington  rode  into  Cambridge, 
escorted  by  a  company  of  citizens.  As  he  drew 
near  Cambridge  Common,  cannon  were  fired  to 
welcome  him,  and  the  people  in  Boston  must  have 
wondered  what  had  happened.  The  Provincial 
Congress  had  set  apart  for  his  use  the  house  of  the 
president  of  Harvard  College,  reserving  only  one 
room  for  the  president ;  but  this  house  was  prob- 
ably too  small  and  inconvenient ;  for  shortly  af- 
terward Washington  was  established  in  the  great 
square  house,  on  the  way  to  Watertown,  which 
had  been  deserted  by  a  rich  Tory,  and  there  he 
stayed  as  long  as  he  was  in  Cambridge.  By  good 
fortune,  years  afterward,  the  poet  Longfellow 
bought  the  house,  and  so  the  names  of  Washing- 
ton and  Longfellow  have  made  it  famous. 

On  the  morning  of  the  next  day,  which  was 
Monday,  July  3, 1775,  Washington,  with  Lee  and 
other  officers,  rode  into  camp.  Cambridge  Com' 
mon  was  not  the  little  place  it  now  is,  hemmed  in 
by  streets.  It  stretched  out  toward  the  country, 
and  a  country  road  ran  by  its  side,  leading  to 
Watertown.  An  Episcopal  church  stood  opposite 
the  Common,  and  a  little  farther  on,  just  as  the 
road  turned,  nearly  at  a  right  angle,  stood  an  old 
house.  In  front  of  this  house,  at  the  corner  of 
the  road,  was  a  stout  elm-tree.  It  was  a  warm 
summer  morning,  and  the  officers  were  glad  of 
the  shade  of  the  tree. 


UNDER  THE  OLD  ELM.  149 

On  the  left,  and  stretching  behind,  were  the 
tents  of  the  American  camp.  The  soldiers  them- 
selves were  drawn  up  in  the  road  and  on  the  dry, 
treeless  common.  Crowded  about  were  men, 
women,  and  children,  for  the  news  had  spread 
that  the  general  had  come,  and  the  crowd  and  the 
soldiers  were  well  intermingled.  What  did  they 
see  ?  They  saw  a  group  of  men  on  horseback,  in 
military  dress ;  but  the  foremost  man,  on  whom 
all  eyes  were  bent,  was  a  tall,  splendid  figure, 
erect  upon  his  horse  ;  those  nearest  could  see  that 
he  had  a  rosy  face,  thick  brown  hair  that  was 
brushed  back  from  his  face,  and  clear  blue  eyes 
set  rather  far  apart.  By  his  side  was  a  man  who 
appeared  even  taller,  he  was  so  thin  and  lank  ; 
he  had  a  huge  nose,  eyes  that  were  looking  in 
every  direction,  and  a  mouth  that  seemed  almost 
ready  to  laugh  at  the  people  before  him.  He  sat 
easily  and  carelessly  on  his  horse.  This  was  Gen- 
eral Lee. 

Now,  the  strong  Virginian,  easily  marked  by 
his  bearing  and  his  striking  dress,  —  for  he  wore 
a  blue  coat  with  buff  facings,  buff  small-clothes, 
an  epaulet  on  each  shoulder,  and  a  cockade  in  his 
hat,  —  turned  to  General  Ward,  who  had  hereto- 
fore been  in  command  of  the  army,  and  laying  his 
hand  on  the  hilt  of  his  sword,  drew  it  from  the 
scabbard,  and  raised  it  in  the  sight  of  the  people. 
The  cannon  roared,  no  doubt,  and  the  people 
shouted.  It  was  a  great  occasion  for  them,  and 


150  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

everybody  was  on  tiptoe  to  see  the  Virginians. 
All  this  is  what  we  may  suppose,  for  there  is  no 
account  of  the  exact  ceremony.  We  only  know 
that,  at  that  time,  Washington  took  command  of 
the  army. 

But  what  did  Washington  see,  and  what  did  he 
think,  now,  and  later,  when  he  made  a  tour  of  in- 
spection through  the  camp  and  to  the  outposts  ? 
He  saw  a  motley  assembly,  in  all  sorts  of  uni- 
forms and  without  any  uniform  at  all,  with  all 
sorts  of  weapons  and  with  precious  little  powder. 
So  little  was  there  that  Washington  was  very  anx- 
ious lest  the  British  should  find  out  how  little  he 
had  ;  and  so  while  he  was  urging  Congress  to  pro- 
vide supplies,  he  had  barrels  of  sand,  with  powder 
covering  the  top,  placed  in  the  magazine,  that 
any  spy  hanging  about  might  be  misled.  Some  of 
the  soldiers  were  in  tents,  some  were  quartered  in 
one  or  two  college  buildings  then  standing,  and 
some  built  huts  for  themselves.  The  most  or- 
derly camp  was  that  of  the  Rhode  Island  troops, 
under  General  Nathanael  Greene. 

The  men  were  in  companies  of  various  sizes, 
under  captains  and  other  officers  who  had  very 
little  authority  over  the  privates,  for  these  usually 
elected  their  own  commanders.  A  visitor  to  the 
camp  relates  a  dialogue  which  he  heard  between 
a  captain  and  one  of  the  privates  under  him. 

"  Bill,"  said  the  captain,  "  go  and  bring  a  pail 
of  water  for  the  men." 


UNDER  THE   OLD  ELM.  151 

"I  sha'n't,"  said  Bill.  "It's  your  turn  now, 
Captain ;  I  got  it  last  time." 

But  the  men,  though  under  very  little  disci- 
pline, were  good  stuff  out  of  which  to  make  sol- 
diers. Most  of  them  were  in  dead  earnest,  and 
they  brought,  besides  courage,  great  skill  in  the 
use  of  the  ordinary  musket.  A  story  is  told  of  a 
company  of  riflemen  raised  in  one  of  the  frontier 
counties  of  Pennsylvania.  So  many  volunteers 
applied  as  to  embarrass  the  leader  who  was  enlist- 
ing the  company,  and  he  drew  on  a  board  with 
chalk  the  figure  of  a  nose  of  the  common  size, 
placed  the  board  at  the  distance  of  a  hundred  and 
fifty  yards,  and  then  declared  he  would  take  only 
those  who  could  hit  the  mark.  Over  sixty  suc- 
ceeded. "  General  Gage,  take  care  of  your  nose," 
says  the  newspaper  that  tells  the  story.  General 
Gage,  as  you  know,  was  the  commander  of  the 
British  forces  in  Boston. 

Washington  wrote  to  Congress,  "  I  have  a  sin- 
cere pleasure  in  observing  that  there  are  mate- 
rials for  a  good  army,  a  great  number  of  able- 
bodied  men,  active,  zealous  in  the  cause,  and  of 
unquestionable  courage." 

His  first  business  was  to  make  an  army  out  of 
this  material,  and  he  shrewdly  suggested  that  inas- 
much as  there  was  great  need  of  clothing,  it  would 
be  well  to  furnish  ten  thousand  hunting-shirts  at 
once.  Not  only  would  these  be  the  cheapest  gar- 
ments, but  they  would  furnish  a  convenient  and 


152  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

characteristic  uniform,  which  would  destroy  the 
distinctions  between  the  troops  from  different 
colonies  or  towns.  If  the  men  looked  alike,  they 
would  act  together  better. 

There  is  a  story  that  Washing-ton  had  a  plat- 
form built  in  the  branches  of  the  elm  under  which 
he  had  taken  command  of  the  army,  and  that 
there  he  sat  with  his  glass,  spying  the  movements 
across  the  water  in  Boston.  Whether  this  be  so 
or  not,  he  was  constantly  scouring  the  country 
himself,  and  sending  his  scouts  within  the  en- 
emy's lines.  The  most  critical  time  came  at  the 
end  of  the  year  1775,  when  the  term  of  the  old 
soldiers'  enlistment  expired,  and  the  ranks  were 
filling  up  with  raw  recruits. 

"  It  is  not  in  the  pages  of  history,  perhaps," 
writes  Washington  to  the  president  of  Congress, 
on  the  4th  of  January,  "  to  furnish  a  case  like 
ours.  To  maintain  a  post  within  musket-shot  of 
the  enemy  for  six  months  together  without 
and  at  the  same  time  to  disband  one  army  and 
recruit  another,  within  that  distance  of  twenty  odd 
British  regiments,  is  more,  probably,  than  ever 
was  attempted.  But  if  we  succeed  as  well  in  the 
last  as  we  have  heretofore  in  the  first,  I  shall 
think  it  the  most  fortunate  event  of  my  whole 
life." 

The  blank  purposely  left  in  this  letter,  in  case 
it  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  was 
easily  filled  by  Congress  with  the  word  "  powder." 


UNDER  THE  OLD  ELM.  153 

At  one  time  there  was  not  half  a  pound  to  a  man. 
General  Sullivan  writes  that  when  General  Wash- 
ington heard  of  this,  he  was  so  much  struck  by 
the  danger  that  he  did  not  utter  a  word  for  half 
an  hour. 

When  Washington  left  Philadelphia  for  Cam- 
bridge, he  wrote  to  his  wife  as  if  he  expected  to 
return  after  a  short  campaign.  Perhaps  he  said 
this  to  comfort  her.  Perhaps  he  really  hoped 
that  by  a  short,  sharp  struggle  the  colonies  would 
show  Great  Britain  that  they  were  in  earnest,  and 
would  secure  the  rights  which  had  been  taken 
from  them.  At  any  rate,  from  the  day  he  took 
command  of  the  army  in  Cambridge,  Washington 
had  one  purpose  in  view,  to  attack  Boston  just  as 
soon  as  possible.  The  summer  was  not  over  be- 
fore he  called  his  officers  together  and  proposed 
to  make  the  attack.  They  hesitated,  and  finally 
said  they  were  not  ready  for  so  bold  a  move.  He 
called  a  council  again,  the  middle  of  October,  but 
still  he  could  not  bring  them  to  the  point.  He 
kept  on  urging  it,  however,  as  the  one  thing  to  do, 
and  Congress  at  last,  just  at  the  end  of  the  year, 
passed  a  resolution  giving  Washington  authority 
to  make  an  assault  upon  the  British  forces  "  in 
any  manner  he  might  think  expedient,  notwith- 
standing the  town  and  property  in  it  might  be 
destroyed." 

As  soon  as  he  received  this  authority,  Wash- 
ington again  called  his  officers  together,  and 


154  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

urged  with  all  his  might  the  necessity  of  i 
diate  action.  He  thought  they  should  make  a 
bold  attempt  at  once  to  conquer  the  English  army 
in  Boston.  In  the  spring  more  troops  would 
come  over  from  England.  "  Strike  now ! "  he 
said,  "and  perhaps  it  will  not  be  necessary  to 
strike  again."  But  it  was  not  till  the  middle  of 
February  that  he  was  able  to  persuade  his  gen- 
erals to  agree  to  a  move.  As  soon  as  he  had  won 
them  over,  he  made  his  preparations  as  rapidly  as 
possible,  and  on  the  3d  of  March  took  possession 
of  Dorchester  Heights.  That  movement  showed 
the  British  what  was  coming.  If  they  were  to 
stay  in  Boston,  they  would  at  once  be  attacked. 
They  took  to  their  ships  and  sailed  out  of  Boston 
harbor. 

Washington  had  driven  them  out,  though  he 
had  fought  no  battle.  It  is  impossible  to  say 
what  would  have  happened  if  he  could  have  had 
his  way  before,  and  attacked  Boston.  There  were 
many  friends  of  America  in  Parliament,  and  if 
the  news  had  come  that  the  New  England  men 
had  actually  destroyed  Boston,  the  town  where 
their  property  was,  in  their  determination  to  drive 
out  the  British  soldiers,  I  think  these  friends 
would  have  said :  "  See  how  much  in  earnest  these 
Massachusetts  men  are  !  They  have  a  right  to  be 
heard,  when  they  are  willing  to  sacrifice  their  own 
town  to  secure  their  rights."  Boston  was  not  de- 
stroyed, and  the  war  went  on ;  but  one  effect  of 


BOSTON,  WITH  ITS  ENVIRONS. 

,in  1775  and  1776. 


UNDER  THE  OLD  ELM.  155 

this  siege  of  Boston  was  to  inspire  confidence  in 
Washington.  He  showed  that  he  was  a  born 
leader.  He  did  not  hold  back,  but  went  right  to 
the  front,  and  beckoned  to  the  other  generals  to 
come  and  stand  where  he  stood.  He  had  cour- 
age ;  he  was  ready  to  attack  the  enemy.  It  was 
a  righteous  cause  in  which  he  was  embarked,  and 
he  wished  to  make  short  work  of  the  business. 
There  were  to  be  seven  weary  years  of  war,  and 
Washington  was  to  show  in  other  ways  that  he 
was  the  leader ;  but  it  was  a  great  thing  that  in 
the  beginning  of  the  struggle  he  should  have  been 
head  and  shoulders  above  the  men  around  him, 
and  that  when  he  drew  his  sword  from  the  scab- 
bard he  was  no  boaster,  but  was  ready  at  once  to 
use  it. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

LEADING   THE   ARMY. 

ON  the  13th  of  April,  1776,  Washington 
in  New  York,  which  now  promised  to  be  the  cen- 
tre of  operations.  Here  he  remained  four  or  five 
months,  making  one  visit  meanwhile  to  Philadel- 
phia, at  the  request  of  Congress,  which  wished  to 
confer  with  him.  He  was  busy  increasing  and 
strengthening  the  army  and  erecting  fortifications. 

That  spring  and  summer  saw  a  rapid  change  in 
men's  minds  regarding  the  war  with  England. 
Washington  no  longer  thought  it  possible  to  ob- 
tain what  the  colonies  demanded  and  still  remain 
subject  to  England.  He  was  ready  for  indepen- 
dence, and  when  Congress  issued  its  declaration, 
Washington  had  it  read  before  the  army  with 
great  satisfaction. 

Not  long  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
an  English  fleet  arrived  in  New  York  Bay,  bring- 
ing a  large  body  of  troops,  under  the  command  of 
Lord  Howe,  who,  with  his  brother  Admiral  Howe, 
had  been  appointed  commissioners  to  treat  with 
the  Americans.  In  reality,  they  only  brought  a 
promise  of  pardon  to  the  rebels.  It  was  very 
clear  to  Washington  that  the  British  government 


LEADING  THE  ARMY.  157 

had  not  the  slightest  intention  of  listening  to  the 
grievances  of  the  colonies  with  a  desire  to  redress 
them  ;  but  that  they  meant  by  these  proposals  to 
distract  the  colonies,  if  possible,  and  build  up  a 
party  there  that  would  oppose  the  action  of  Con- 
gress. There  was  a  little  incident  attending  the 
arrival  of  the  commissioners  that  showed  the  feel- 
ing which  prevailed. 

One  afternoon,  word  came  that  a  boat  was  com- 
ing to  headquarters,  bringing  a  messenger  from 
Lord  Howe  with  a  communication.  Washington 
had  noticed  that  the  British,  whenever  speaking 
of  him  or  other  American  officers,  had  refused  to 
regard  them  as  officers  of  the  army ;  they  were 
simply  private  gentlemen  who  had  taken  up  arms 
against  the  king.  Now  Washington  knew  that 
while  it  was  in  itself  a  small  matter  whether  he 
was  addressed  by  people  about  him  as  General 
Washington  or  Mr.  Washington,  it  was  not  at  all 
a  small  matter  how  Lord  Howe  addressed  him. 
That  officer  had  no  business  with  George  Wash- 
ington, but  he  might  have  very  important  busi- 
ness with  General  Washington.  Accordingly,  he 
called  together  such  of  the  American  officers  as 
were  at  headquarters  to  consult  them  in  regard 
to  the  subject,  and  they  agreed  entirely  with  him. 
Colonel  Reed  was  directed  to  receive  the  messen- 
ger and  manage  the  matter. 

Accordingly,  he  entered  a  boat  and  was  rowed 
out  toward  Staten  Island,  whence  Lord  Howe's 


158  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

messenger  was  coming.  The  two  boats  met  half- 
way, and  Lieutenant  Brown  —  for  that  was  the 
name  of  the  messenger  —  was  very  polite,  and  in- 
formed Colonel  Reed  that  he  bore  a  letter  from 
General  Howe  to  Mr.  Washington.  Colonel 
Reed  looked  surprised.  He  himself  was  an  offi- 
cer in  the  Continental  army,  and  he  knew  no  such 
person.  Thereupon  Lieutenant  Brown  showed 
him  the  letter,  which  was  addressed,  George 
Washington,  Esq.  Colonel  Reed  was  polite,  but 
it  was  quite  impossible  for  him  to  bear  a  letter  to 
the  commander  of  the  American  army  addressed 
in  that  way.  The  lieutenant  was  embarrassed  ; 
as  a  gentleman  and  an  officer  he  saw  he  was  in  the 
wrong.  He  tried  to  make  matters  better  by  say- 
ing that  it  was  an  important  letter,  but  was  in- 
tended rather  for  a  person  who  was  of  great  im- 
portance in  American  councils  than  for  one  who 
was  commanding  an  army. 

Colonel  Reed  continued  to  refuse  the  letter,  and 
the  boats  parted.  Presently,  however,  Lieutenant 
Brown  came  rowing  back  and  asked  by  what  title 
Washington  chose  to  be  addressed.  It  was  quite 
an  unnecessary  question,  Reed  thought.  There 
was  not  the  slightest  doubt  as  to  what  General 
Washington's  rank  was.  The  lieutenant  knew  it 
and  was  really  very  sorry,  but  he  wished  Colonel 
Reed  would  take  the  letter.  Colonel  Reed  re- 
plied that  it  was  the  easiest  matter  in  the  world  ; 
it  only  needed  that  the  letter  should  be  correctly 
addressed.  And  so  they  parted. 


LEADING  THE  ARMY.  159 

Five  days  later,  an  aide-de-camp  of  General 
Howe  appeared  with  a  flag  and  asked  that  an  in- 
terview might  be  granted  to  Colonel  Patterson, 
the  British  Adjutant-General.  Consent  was  given, 
and  the  next  day  Washington,  with  all  his  officers 
about  him,  received  Colonel  Patterson,  who  was 
very  polite,  and  addressed  him  as  "  Your  Excel- 
lency," which  did  quite  well,  though  it  was  dodg- 
ing matters  somewhat.  He  tried  to  explain  away 
the  affair  of  the  letter,  and  said  that  no  imperti- 
nence was  intended,  and  he  then  produced  another, 
addressed  to  George  Washington,  Esq.,  etc.,  etc. 

Evidently,  Lord  Howe  thought  he  had  invented 
a  capital  way  out  of  the  difficulty.  Et  cetera,  et 
cetera  !  Why,  that  might  cover  everything,  — 
General-Commanding,  Lord  High  Rebel,  or  any- 
thing else  this  very  punctilious  Virginia  gentle- 
man might  fancy  as  his  title.  It  would  save 
Washington's  pride  and  relieve  Lord  Howe's 
scruples.  Washington  replied  coolly,  Yes,  the  et 
cetera  implied  everything,  but  it  also  implied  any- 
thing or  nothing.  It  was  meaningless.  He  was 
not  a  private  person  ;  this  letter  was  meant  for  a 
public  character,  and  as  such  he  could  not  receive 
it,  unless  it  acknowledged  him  properly.  So  Colo- 
nel Patterson  was  obliged  to  pocket  the  letter, 
and  try  to  cover  his  mortification  and  to  deliver 
the  contents  verbally. 

Perhaps  all  this  sounds  like  very  small  business. 
In  reality  it  meant  a  great  deal.  Were  Washing- 


160  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

ton  and  other  officers  rebels  against  the  king,  or 
were  they  the  officers  of  a  government  which  de- 
clared itself  independent  of  the  king?  Lord 
Howe  gave  up  trying  to  force  Washington  into 
the  trap,  and  wrote  to  his  government  that  it 
would  be  necessary  in  future  to  give  the  Ameri- 
can commander  his  title ;  and  Congress,  to  whom 
Washington  reported  the  matter,  passed  a  resolu- 
tion approving  of  his  course,  and  directing  that 
no  letter  or  message  be  received  on  any  occasion 
whatsoever  from  the  enemy,  by  the  commander- 
in-chief  or  by  other  commanders  of  the  American 
army,  but  such  as  should  be  directed  to  them  in 
the  characters  they  respectively  sustained.  Little 
things  like  this  went  a  great  way  toward  making 
the  people  stand  erect  and  look  the  world  in  the 
face. 

The  Americans  needed,  indeed,  all  the  aid  and 
comfort  they  could  get,  for  it  was  plain  that  they 
were  at  a  great  disadvantage,  with  their  half- 
equipped  troops  stationed  some  on  Long  Island 
and  some  in  New  York,  between  the  North  and 
East  rivers,  surrounded  by  Tories,  who  took  cour- 
age from  the  presence  of  a  large  British  force  in 
the  bay.  Washington  used  his  best  endeavors  to 
bring  about  a  strong  spirit  of  patriotism  in  the 
camp  which  should  put  an  end  to  petty  sectional 
jealousies,  and  he  felt  the  sacredness  of  the  cause 
in  which  they  were  engaged  so  deeply  that  he 
sould  not  bear  to  have  the  army  act  or  think  other- 


LEADING  THE  ARMY.  161 

wise  than  as  the  servants  of  God.     He  issued  a 
general  order,  which  ran  as  follows  :  — 

"  That  the  troops  may  have  an  opportunity  of  at- 
tending public  worship,  as  well  as  to  take  some  rest  af- 
ter the  great  fatigue  they  have  gone  through,  the  gen- 
eral, in  future,  excuses  them  from  fatigue  duty  on 
Sundays,  except  at  the  ship-yards,  or  on  special  occa- 
sions, until  further  orders.  The  general  is  sorry  to  be 
informed  that  the  foolish  and  wicked  practice  of  pro- 
fane cursing  and  swearing,  —  a  vice  heretofore  little 
known  in  an  American  army,  —  is  growing  into  fashion; 
he  hopes  the  officers  will,  by  example  as  well  as  influ- 
ence, endeavor  to  check  it,  and  that  both  they  and  the 
men  will  reflect,  that  we  can  have  little  hope  of  the 
blessing  of  Heaven  on  our  arms,  if  we  insult  it  by  our 
impiety  and  folly ;  added  to  this,  it  is  a  vice  so  mean 
and  low,  without  any  temptation,  that  every  man  of 
sense  and  character  detests  and  despises  it." 

The  time  was  now  at  hand  when  the  army 
would  be  put  to  a  severe  test,  and  Washington 
was  to  show  his  generalship  in  other  and  more 
striking  ways.  The  battle  of  Long  Island  was 
fought  August  27,  1776,  and  was  a  severe  blow  to 
the  American  army.  Washington's  first  business 
was  to  withdraw  such  of  the  forces  as  remained 
on  Long  Island  to  the  mainland,  and  unite  the 
two  parts  of  his  army.  He  had  nine  thousand 
men  and  their  baggage  and  arms  to  bring  across 
a  swift  strait,  while  a  victorious  enemy  was  so 
near  that  their  movements  could  be  plainly  heard. 


162  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

Now  his  skill  and  energy  were  seen.  He  sent 
verbal  orders  for  all  the  boats  of  whatever  size 
that  lay  along  the  New  York  shore  up  the  Hudson 
and  on  the  East  River  to  be  brought  to  the  Brook- 
lyn side.  He  issued  orders  for  the  troops  to  hold 
themselves  in  readiness  to  attack  the  enemy  at 
night,  and  he  made  the  troops  that  defended  the 
outer  line  of  breastworks  to  have  all  the  air  of 
preparation  as  if  they  were  about  to  move  at  once 
upon  the  enemy.  All  this  time  it  was  raining  and 
uncomfortable  enough,  for  the  soldiers  were  unpro- 
tected by  tents  or  shelter  of  any  kind,  save  such 
rude  barriers  as  they  could  raise.  They  kept  up 
a  brisk  firing  at  the  outposts,  and  the  men  who 
held  the  advanced  position  were  on  the  alert,  ex- 
pecting every  moment  orders  to  advance. 

Then  they  heard  dull  sounds  in  the  distance 
toward  the  water.  Suddenly  at  about  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning  a  cannon  went  off  with  a  tremen- 
dous explosion.  Nobody  knew  what  it  was,  and 
to  this  day  the  accident  remains  a  mystery.  But 
the  soldiers  discovered  what  was  going  on.  A 
retreat  instead  of  an  advance  had  been  ordered. 
The  order  for  an  advance  was  intended  to  conceal 
the  plan.  Washington  was  on  the  shore  superin- 
tending the  embarkation  of  the  troops.  Some 
had  gone  over  ;  when  the  tide  turned,  the  wind 
and  current  were  against  them;  there  were  not 
enough  boats  to  carry  the  rest.  To  add  to  the 
confusion  one  of  the  officers  blundered,  and  the 


LEADING  THE  ARMY.  163 

men  who  had  been  kept  in  front  to  conceal  the 
movement  from  the  British  were  ordered  down  to 
the  Ferry.  For  a  while  it  looked  as  if  the  retreat 
would  be  discovered,  but  it  was  not,  and  when 
morning  came  the  entire  army  had  been  moved 
across  to  New  York,  and  not  a  man  in  the  British 
army  knew  what  had  been  done.  It  was  a  great 
feat,  and  Washington,  who  had  not  closed  his 
eyes  for  forty-eight  hours,  and  scarcely  left  the 
saddle  all  that  time,  again  showed  himself  a  mas- 
terly general. 

He  had  now  to  show  the  same  kind  of  ability 
the  rest  of  the  autumn.  It  requires  one  kind  of 
generalship  to  lead  men  into  battle  and  another 
to  lead  them  on  a  retreat  away  from  the  enemy. 
With  a  large  fleet  in  the  harbor,  it  was  clear  that 
the  British  could  at  any  time  destroy  New  York 
and  any  army  that  was  there.  Accordingly, 
Washington  withdrew  his  army  up  the  island. 
The  British  followed.  They  could  transport 
troops  on  both  sides  of  the  island,  by  water,  and 
could  prevent  the  Americans  from  crossing  the 
Hudson  River  into  New  Jersey.  They  began  to 
land  troops  on  the  shore  of  East  River  not  far 
from  where  is  now  the  Thirty-fourth  Street  Ferry. 
Some  breastworks  had  been  thrown  up  there,  and 
were  held  by  soldiers  who  had  been  in  the  battle 
of  Long  Island.  They  seem  to  have  been  thor- 
oughly demoralized  by  that  defeat,  for  they  fled 
as  soon  as  they  saw  the  British  advancing,  and 


164  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

other  troops  which  had  been  sent  to  reinforce 
them  were  also  seized  with  panic  and  fled. 

Washington  heard  the  firing  in  this  direction 
and  galloped  over  to  the  scene.  He  met  the  sol- 
diers running  away  and  called  on  them  to  halt. 
But  they  were  overcome  by  fear  and  had  lost  their 
self-command.  They  paid  no  heed  to  him,  and 
Washington,  usually  cool  and  self-possessed,  was 
so  enraged  by  their  cowardly  behavior  that  he 
flew  into  a  transport  of  rage,  flung  down  his  hat, 
exclaiming,  "  Are  these  the  men  with  whom  I  am 
to  defend  America !  "  and  drawing  his  pistols  and 
sword  in  turn,  rushed  upon  the  fugitives,  trying 
to  drive  them  back  to  their  duty.  He  had  no 
fear  of  danger  himself,  and  was  within  a  short 
distance  of  the  British,  riding  about  furiously, 
when  one  of  his  aids,  seeing  the  danger,  seized 
the  horse's  bridle  and  called  his  commander  to 
his  senses. 

To  cover  the  army,  Washington  posted  his 
forces  across  the  narrow  upper  part  of  the  island, 
from  Fort  Washington  on  the  Hudson  to  the 
Harlem  River,  and  here  he  kept  the  British  at 
bay  while  his  men  recovered  their  strength  and 
were  ready  for  further  movements.  Meanwhile, 
across  the  Hudson  River  from  Fort  Washington, 
another  fort,  named  from  General  Lee,  had  been 
built,  and  Washington  had  posted  General  Greene 
there.  It  was  evident  that  with  the  British  in 
force,  with  an  army  and  navy,  it  would  be  iinpos- 


THE  CENTRAL  FIELD  OF  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  WAR 


LEADING   THE  ARMY.  165 

sible  to  hold  New  York  or  the  Hudson  River,  and 
it  was  also  clear  that  should  Washington's  army 
be  defeated  there,  the  British  would  at  once  move 
on  Philadelphia,  where  Congress  was  sitting. 
With  New  York  commanding  the  Hudson  River, 
and  with  Philadelphia  in  their  hands,  the  British 
would  have  control  of  the  most  important  parts  of 
America.  • 

Washington  saw  also  that  there  was  hard  work 
before  him,  and  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
carry  on  the  war  with  an  army  which  was  enlisted 
for  a  year  only,  and  he  bent  his  energies  toward 
persuading  Congress  to  enlist  men  for  a  longer 
period.  He  had  to  organize  this  new  army  and 
to  superintend  countless  details.  His  old  habits 
of  method  and  accuracy  stood  him  in  good  stead 
now,  and  he  worked  incessantly,  getting  affairs 
into  order,  for  he  knew  that  the  British  would 
soon  move.  Indeed,  it  is  one  of  the  strange 
things  in  history  that  the  British,  with  the  im- 
mense advantage  which  they  had,  did  not  at  once 
after  the  battle  of  Long  Island  press  forward  and 
break  down  the  Continental  army  in  a  quick  suc- 
cession of  attacks  by  land  and  water.  It  is  quite 
certain  that  Washington,  in  their  place,  would 
not  have  delayed  action. 

At  the  end  of  October,  Washington  occupied 
a  position  at  White  Plains,  in  the  rocky,  hilly 
country  north  of  New  York.  Step  by  step  he 
had  given  way  before  General  Howe,  who  had 


166  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

been  trying  to  get  the  American  army  where  he 
could  surround  it  and  destroy  it.  Washington, 
on  the  other  hand,  could  not  afford  to  run  any 
risks.  He  wished  to  delay  the  British  as  long  as 
possible,  and  not  fight  them  till  he  had  his  new 
army  well  organized.  There  was  a  battle  at 
White  Plains,  and  the  Americans  were  forced 
back ;  but  Washington  suddenly  changed  his 
position,  moved  his  men  quickly  to  a  stronger 
place,  and  began  to  dig  intrenchments.  He  was 
too  weak  to  fight  in  the  open  field,  but  he  could 
fight  with  his  spade,  and  he  meant  to  give  Howe 
all  the  trouble  he  could.  He  expected  another 
attack,  but  in  a  day  or  two  there  were  signs  of 
a  movement,  and  he  discovered  that  the  enemy 
was  leaving  his  front. 

He  was  not  quite  certain  what  Howe's  plans 
might  be,  but  he  was  quite  sure  he  would  move 
on  Philadelphia.  Meanwhile,  he  kept  watch  over 
Fort  Washington,  and  gave  orders  that  it  should 
be  held  only  so  long  as  it  was  prudent,  but  that 
in  case  of  extreme  danger,  it  should  be  given  up 
and  its  garrison  cross  the  river  to  Fort  Lee.  He 
himself,  with  all  but  the  New  England  troops, 
crossed  the  river  higher  up,  at  King's  Ferry.  The 
New  England  and  New  York  troops  he  posted  on 
both  sides  of  the  river  to  defend  the  passes  in  the 
Highlands,  for  it  was  of  great  importance  to  have 
open  communication  between  Philadelphia  and 
New  England.  A  division  also  was  left  under 


LEADING   THE  ARMY.  167 

General  Lee  at  "White  Plains,  who  was  to  be 
ready  to  join  Washington  when  it  should  become 
necessary. 

General  Greene,  who  was  in  command  at  Fort 
Lee,  on  the  New  Jersey  side  of  the  Hudson,  hoped 
to  keep  Fort  Washington,  on  the  New  York  side, 
which  was  also  under  his  command.  He  hoped  to 
keep  it  even  after  the  British  had  begun  to  lay 
siege  to  it.  Washington  was  obliged  to  leave  this 
business  to  Greene's  discretion,  for  he  was  occu- 
pied with  moving  his  army  across  the  river,  higher 
up,  and  if  the  fort  could  have  held  out,  they  might 
have  been  able  to  prevent  the  British  from  cross- 
ing to  New  Jersey.*  But  Greene  counted  on  a 
stouter  defense  than  the  men  in  the  fort  gave, 
and  when  Washington  at  last  reached  Fort  Lee 
it  was  only  to  see  from  the  banks  of  the  river 
the  surrender  of  Fort  Washington  with  its  mil- 
itary stores  and  two  thousand  men.  It  was  a  ter- 
rible loss  ;  and,  moreover,  the  capture  of  that  fort 
made  it  impossible  to  hold  Fort  Lee,  which  was 
at  once  abandoned. 

Now  began  a  wonderful  retreat.  The  English 
under  Lord  Cornwallis,  with  a  well  -  equipped 
army,  and  flushed  with  recent  victory,  crossed 
over  to  New  Jersey  and  began  moving  forward. 
They  were  so  prompt  that  the  Americans  left 
their  kettles  on  the  fire  in  Fort  Lee  as  they  has- 
tily left.  Washington,  with  a  small,  ragged,  dis- 
couraged army,  fell  back  from  the  enemy,  some' 


168  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

times  leaving  a  town  at  one  end  as  the  British 
sntered  it  at  the  other;  but  he  broke  down 
bridges,  he  destroyed  provisions,  and  so  hampered 
and  delayed  the  enemy  that  they  made  less  than 
seventy  miles  over  level  country  in  nineteen  days. 

Meanwhile  the  British  general  was  issuing 
proclamations  calling  upon  the  people  of  New 
Jersey  to  return  to  their  allegiance,  and  promising 
them  pardon.  Many  gave  up  and  asked  protec- 
tion. It  seemed  as  if  the  war  were  coming  to  an 
end,  and  that  all  the  struggle  had  been  in  vain. 
The  American  army,  moreover,  had  been  enlisted 
for  a  short  term  only,  and  before  the  end  of  De- 
cember most  of  the  men  would  have  served  their 
time.  General  Lee  delayed  and  delayed,  and 
Washington  himself  was  harassed  and  well-nigh 
disheartened ;  but  he  meant  to  die  hard.  One 
day,  when  affairs  looked  very  dark,  he  turned  to 
Colonel  Reed,  who  was  by  him,  and  said,  drawing 
his  hand  significantly  across  his  throat :  "  Reed, 
my  neck  does  not  feel  as  though  it  was  made  for 
a  halter.  We  must  retire  to  Augusta  County  in 
Virginia,  and  if  overpowered,  must  pass  the  AUe- 
ghany  Mountains." 

But  Washington  was  made  for  something  more 
than  a  guerrilla  chieftain.  He  had  put  the  Dela- 
ware River  between  his  army  and  the  British,  who 
were  now  scattered  over  New  Jersey,  going  into 
winter  quarters,  and  intending,  when  the  river 
was  frozen,  to  cross  on  the  ice  and  move  upon 


LEADING   THE  ARMY.  169 

Philadelphia.  Suddenly,  on  Christmas  night, 
Washington  recrossed  the  river  with  his  little 
army,  making  a  perilous  passage  through  cakes  of 
floating  ice  that  crunched  against  the  boats,  sur- 
prised a  large  detachment  of  Hessians  near  Tren- 
ton, and  captured  a  thousand  prisoners.  Eight 
days  later  he  fought  the  battle  of  Princeton. 
Within  three  weeks  he  had  completely  turned  the 
tables.  He  had  driven  the  enemy  from  every 
post  it  occupied  in  New  Jersey,  except  Brunswick 
and  Amboy,  made  Philadelphia  safe,  and  shown 
the  people  that  the  army,  which  was  thought  to 
be  on  the  verge  of  destruction,  could  be  used  in 
the  hands  of  a  great  general  like  a  rod  with  which 
to  punish  the  enemy. 

Men  were  beginning  to  see  that  here  was  one 
who  was  a  true  leader  of  men. 

On  the  day  after  the  victory  at  Trenton,  Con- 
gress, "  having  maturely  considered  the  present 
crisis,  and  having  perfect  reliance  on  the  wisdom, 
vigor,  and  uprightness  of  General  Washington," 
passed  a  resolution  that  "  General  Washington 
shall  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  vested  with  full,  am- 
ple, and  complete  powers  to  raise  armies,  appoint 
officers,  and  exercise  control  over  the  parts  of  the 
country  occupied  by  the  army."  Washington  had 
been  constantly  checked  by  the  necessity  of  refer- 
ring all  questions  to  Congress  and  to  his  generals. 
Now  he  was  to  have  full  power,  for  he  had  shown 
himself  a  man  fit  to  be  trusted  with  power. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

\ 

AT  VALLEY  FORGE. 

THE  winter  of  1777  passed  with  little  fighting ; 
and  when  the  spring  opened,  Washington  used  his 
army  so  adroitly  as  to  prevent  the  British  from 
moving  on  Philadelphia,  and  finally  crowded  them 
out  of  New  Jersey  altogether.  That  summer,  how- 
ever, was  an  anxious  one,  for  there  was  great  un- 
certainty as  to  the  plans  of  the  enemy  ;  and  when 
at  last  a  formidable  British  army  appeared  in  the 
Chesapeake,  whither  it  had  been  transported  by 
sea,  Washington  hurried  his  forces  to  meet  it,  and 
fought  the  battle  of  Brandy  wine,  in  which  he  met 
with  a  severe  loss.  He  retrieved  his  fortune  in 
part  by  a  brilliant  attack  on  the  enemy  at  Ger- 
mantown,  and  then  retired  to  Valley  Forge,  in- 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  went  into  winter  quar- 
ters ;  while  the  British  army  was  comfortably  es- 
tablished in  Philadelphia. 

The  defeat  of  Burgoyne  by  Gates,  at  Saratoga, 
in  the  summer  and  Washington's  splendid  attack 
at  Germantown  had  made  a  profound  impression 
in  Europe,  and  are  counted  as  having  turned  the 
scale  in  favor  of  an  alliance  with  the  United  States 
on  the  part  of  France.  But  when  the  winter  shut 


AT  VALLEY  FORGE.  171 

down  on  the  American  army,  no  such  good  cheer 
encouraged  it.  That  winter  of  1778  was  the  most 
terrible  ordeal  which  the  army  endured,  and  one 
has  but  to  read  of  the  sufferings  of  the  soldiers  to 
learn  at  how  great  a  cost  independence  was  bought. 
It  is  worth  while  to  tell  again  the  familiar  story, 
because  the  leader  of  the  army  himself  shared  the 
want  and  privation  of  the  men.  To  read  of  Valley 
Forge  is  to  read  of  Washington. 

The  place  was  chosen  for  winter  quarters  be- 
cause of  its  position.  It  was  equally  distant  with 
Philadelphia  from  the  Brandywine  and  from  the 
ferry  across  the  Delaware  into  New  Jersey.  It 
was  too  far  from  Philadelphia  to  be  in  peril  from 
attack,  and  yet  it  was  so  near  that  the  American 
army  could,  if  opportunity  offered,  descend  quickly 
on  the  city.  Then  it  was  so  protected  by  hills  and 
streams  that  the  addition  of  a  few  lines  of  fortifi- 
cation made  it  very  secure. 

But  there  was  no  town  at  Valley  Forge,  and  it 
became  necessary  to  provide  some  shelter  for  the 
soldiers  other  than  the  canvas  tents  which  served 
in  the  field  in  summer.  It  was  the  middle  of  De- 
cember when  the  army  began  preparations  for  the 
winter,  and  Washington  gave  directions  for  the 
building  of  the  little  village.  The  men  were  di- 
vided into  parties  of  twelve,  each  party  to  build  a 
hut  to  accommodate  that  number ;  and  in  order 
to  stimulate  the  men,  Washington  promised  a  re- 
ward of  twelve  dollars  to  the  party  in  each  reg- 


172  GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

Lment  which  finished  its  hut  first  and  most  satis- 
factorily. And  as  there  was  some  difficulty  in 
getting  boards,  he  offered  a  hundred  dollars  to 
any  officer  or  soldier  who  should  invent  some  sub- 
stitute which  would  be  as  cheap  as  boards  and  as 
quickly  provided. 

Each  hut  was  to  be  fourteen  feet  by  sixteen,  the 
sides,  ends,  and  roof  to  be  made  of  logs,  and  the 
sides  made  tight  with  clay.  There  was  to  be  a 
fireplace  in  the  rear  of  each  hut,  built  of  wood, 
but  lined  with  clay  eighteen  inches  thick.  The 
walls  were  to  be  six  and  a  half  feet  high.  Huts 
were  also  to  be  provided  for  the  officers,  and  to  be 
placed  in  the  rear  of  those  occupied  by  the  troops. 
All  these  were  to  be  regularly  arranged  in  streets. 
A  visitor  to  the  camp  when  the  huts  were  being 
built  wrote  of  the  army :  "  They  appear  to  me  like 
a  family  of  beavers,  every  one  busy ;  some  carry- 
ing logs,  others  mud,  and  the  rest  plastering  them 
together."  It  was  bitterly  cold,  and  for  a  month 
the  men  were  at  work,  making  ready  for  the 
winter. 

But  in  what  sort  of  condition  were  the  men  them- 
selves when  they  began  this  work?  Here  is  a 
picture  of  one  of  those  men  on  his  way  to  Valley 
Forge :  "  His  bare  feet  peep  through  his  worn- 
out  shoes,  his  legs  nearly  naked  from  the  tattered 
remains  of  an  only  pair  of  stockings,  his  breeches 
not  enough  to  cover  his  nakedness,  his  shirt  hang- 
ing in  strings,  his  hair  disheveled,  his  face  wan 


AT  VALLEY  FORGE.  173 

and  thin,  his  look  hungry,  his  whole  appearance 
that  of  a  man  forsaken  and  neglected."  And  the 
snow  was  falling  I  This  was  one  of  the  privates. 
The  officers  were  scarcely  better  off.  One  was 
wrapped  "  in  a  sort  of  dressing-gown  made  of  an 
old  blanket  or  woolen  bed-cover."  The  uniforms 
were  torn  and  ragged ;  the  guns  were  rusty ;  a 
few  only  had  bayonets ;  the  soldiers  carried  their 
powder  in  tin  boxes  and  cow-horns. 

To  explain  why  this  army  was  so  poor  and  for- 
lorn would  be  to  tell  a  long  story.  It  may  be 
summed  up  briefly  in  these  words  :  The  army  was 
not  taken  care  of  because  there  was  no  country  to 
take  care  of  it.  There  were  thirteen  States,  and 
each  of  these  States  sent  troops  into  the  field,  but 
all  the  States  were  jealous  of  one  another.  There 
was  a  Congress,  which  undertook  to  direct  the  war, 
but  all  the  members  of  Congress,  coming  from  the 
several  States,  were  jealous  of  one  another.  They 
were  agreed  on  only  one  thing  —  that  it  was  not 
prudent  to  give  the  army  too  much  power.  It  is 
true  that  they  had  once  given  Washington  large 
authority,  but  they  had  given  it  only  for  a  short 
period.  They  were  very  much  afraid  that  some- 
how the  army  would  rule  the  country,  and  yet 
they  were  trying  to  free  the  country  from  the  rule 
of  England.  But  when  they  talked  about  freeing 
the  country,  each  man  thought  only  of  his  own 
State.  The  first  fervor  with  which  they  had 
talked  about  a  common  country  had  died  away ; 


174         GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

there  were  some  very  selfish  men  in  Congress,  who 
could  not  be  patriotic  enough  to  think  of  the  whole 
country. 

The  truth  is,  it  takes  a  long  time  for  the  people 
of  a  country  to  come  to  feel  that  they  have  a  coun- 
try. Up  to  the  time  of  the  war  for  independence, 
the  people  in  America  did  not  care  much  for  one 
another  or  for  America.  They  had  really  been 
preparing  to  be  a  nation,  but  they  did  not  know 
it.  They  were  angry  with  Great  Britain,  and 
they  knew  they  had  been  wronged.  They  were 
therefore  ready  to  fight ;  but  it  does  not  require 
so  much  courage  to  fight  as  to  endure  suffering 
and  to  be  patient. 

So  it  was  that  the  people  of  America  who  were 
most  conscious  that  they  were  Americans  were  the 
men  who  were  in  the  army,  and  their  wives  and 
mothers  and  sisters  at  home.  All  these  were 
making  sacrifices  for  their  country  and  so  learning 
to  love  it.  The  men  in  the  army  came  from  dif- 
ferent States,  and  there  was  a  great  deal  of  state 
feeling  among  them  ;  but,  after  all,  they  belonged 
to  one  army,  —  the  Continental  army,  —  and  they 
had  much  more  in  common  than  they  had  sepa- 
rately. Especially  they  had  a  great  leader  who 
made  no  distinction  between  Virginians  and  New 
England  men.  Washington  felt  keenly  all  the 
lack  of  confidence  which  Congress  showed.  He 
saw  that  the  spirit  in  Congress  was  one  which  kept 
the  people  divided,  while  the  spirit  at  Valley  Forge 


AT  VALLEY  FORGE.  175 

kept  the  people  united,  and  be  wrote  reproachfully 
to  Congress :  — 

"  If  we  would  pursue  a  right  system  of  policy,  in  my 
opinion,  ...  we  should  all,  Congress  and  army,  be 
considered  as  one  people,  embarked  in  one  cause,  in  one 
interest ;  acting  on  the  same  principle,  and  to  the  same 
end.  The  distinction,  the  jealousies  set  up  or  perhaps 
only  incautiously  let  out,  can  answer  not  a  single  good 
purpose.  .  .  .  No  order  of  men  in  the  thirteen  States 
has  paid  a  more  sacred  regard  to  the  proceedings  of 
Congress  than  the  army ;  for  without  arrogance  or  the 
smallest  deviation  from  truth,  it  may  be  said  that  no 
history  now  extant  can  furnish  an  instance  of  an  army's 
suffering  such  uncommon  hardships  as  ours  has  done, 
and  bearing  them  with  the  same  patience  and  fortitude. 
To  see  men,  without  clothes  to  cover  them,  without 
blankets  to  he  on,  without  shoes  (for  the  want  of  which 
their  marches  might  be  traced  by  the  blood  from  their 
feet),  and  almost  as  often  without  provisions  as  with 
them,  marching  through  the  frost  and  snow,  and  at 
Christmas  taking  up  their  winter  quarters  within  a 
day's  march  of  the  enemy,  without  a  house  or  hut  to 
cover  them,  till  they  could  be  built,  and  submitting  with- 
out a  murmur,  is  a  proof  of  patience  and  obedience, 
which,  in  my  opinion,  can  scarce  be  paralleled." 

The  horses  died  of  starvation,  and  the  men 
harnessed  themselves  to  trucks  and  sleds,  hauling 
wood  and  provisions  from  storehouse  to  hut.  At 
one  time  there  was  not  a  ration  in  camp.  Wash- 
ington seized  the  peril  with  a  strong  hand  and  com- 
pelled the  people  in  the  country  about,  who  had 


176  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

been  selling  to  the  British  army  at  Philadelphia, 
to  give  up  their  stores  to  the  patriots  at  Valley 
Forge. 

Meanwhile,  the  wives  of  the  officers  came  to  the 
camp,  and  these  brave  women  gave  of  their  cheer 
to  its  dreary  life.  Mrs.  Washington  was  there 
with  her  husband.  "  The  general's  apartment  is 
very  small,"  she  wrote  to  a  friend  ;  "he  has  had 
a  log  cabin  built  to  dine  in,  which  has  made  our 
quarters  much  more  tolerable  than  they  were  at 
first." 

The  officers  and  their  wives  came  together  and 
told  stories,  perhaps  over  a  plate  of  hickory  nuts, 
which,  we  are  informed,  furnished  General  Wash- 
ington's dessert.  The  general  was  cheerful  in  the 
little  society  ;  but  his  one  thought  was  how  to 
keep  the  brave  company  of  men  alive  and  prepare 
them  for  what  lay  before  them.  The  house  where 
he  had  his  quarters  was  a  farm-house  belonging 
to  a  Quaker,  Mr.  Potts,  who  has  said  that  one  day 
when  strolling  up  the  creek,  away  from  the  camp, 
he  heard  a  deep,  quiet  voice  a  little  way  off.  He 
went  nearer,  and  saw  Washington's  horse  tied  to 
a  sapling.  Hard  by,  in  the  thicket,  was  Washing- 
ton on  his  knees,  praying  earnestly. 

At  the  end  of  February,  light  began  to  break. 
The  terrible  winter  was  passing  away,  though  the 
army  was  still  in  a  wretched  state.  But  there  came 
to  camp  a  volunteer,  Baron  Steuben,  who  had 
been  trained  in  the  best  armies  of  Europe.  In 


AT   VALLEY  FORGE.  177 

him  Washington  had,  what  he  greatly  needed,  an 
excellent  drill-master.  He  made  him  Inspector 
of  the  army,  and  soon,  as  if  by  magic,  the  men 
changed  from  slouching,  careless  fellows  into  erect, 
orderly  soldiers.  The  baron  began  with  a  picked 
company  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  whom 
he  drilled  thoroughly ;  these  became  the  models 
for  others,  and  so  the  whole  camp  was  turned  into 
a  military  school. 

The  prospect  grew  brighter  and  brighter,  until 
on  the  4th  of  May,  late  at  night,  a  messenger  rode 
into  camp  with  despatches  from  Congress.  Wash- 
ington opened  them,  and  his  heart  must  have 
leaped  for  joy  as  he  read  that  an  alliance  had  been 
formed  between  France  and  the  United  States. 
Two  days  later,  the  army  celebrated  the  event. 
The  chaplains  of  the  several  regiments  read  the 
intelligence  and  then  offered  up  thanksgiving  to 
God.  Guns  were  fired,  and  there  was  a  public 
dinner  in  honor  of  Washington  and  his  generals. 
There  had  been  shouts  for  the  king  of  France  and 
for  the  American  States ;  but  when  Washington 
took  his  leave,  "  there  was,"  says  an  officer  who 
was  present,  universal  applause,  "  with  loud  huz- 
zas, which  continued  till  he  had  proceeded  a  quar- 
ter of  a  mile,  during  which  time  there  were  a 
thousand  hats  tossed  in  the  air.  His  excellency 
turned  round  with  his  retinue,  and  huzzaed  sev« 
eral  times." 


CHAPTER  XVin. 

THE   CONWAY   CABAL. 

THERE  is  no  man  so  high  but  some  will  always 
be  found  who  wish  to  pull  him  down.  Washing- 
ton was  no  exception  to  this  rule.  His  men  wor- 
shiped him ;  the  people  had  confidence  in  him ; 
the  officers  nearest  to  him,  and  especially  those 
who  formed  a  part  of  his  military  family,  were 
warmly  attached  to  him  ;  but  in  Congress  there 
were  men  who  violently  opposed  him,  and  there 
were  certain  generals  who  not  only  envied  him  but 
were  ready  to  seize  any  opportunity  which  might 
offer  to  belittle  him  and  to  place  one  of  their  own 
number  in  his  place.  The  chief  men  who  were 
engaged  in  this  business  were  Generals  Conway, 
Mifflin,  and  Gates,  and  from  the  prominent  posi- 
tion taken  in  the  affair  by  the  first-named  officer, 
the  intrigue  against  Washington  goes  by  the  name 
of  the  Conway  Cabal.  A  "  cabal "  is  a  secret 
combination  against  a  person  with  the  object  of 
his  hurt  or  injury. 

It  is  not  easy  to  say  just  how  or  when  this  cabal 
first  showed  itself.  Conway  was  a  young  briga- 
dier-general, very  conceited  and  impudent.  Mif- 
flin had  been  quartermaster-general,  but  had  re- 


THE  CON  WAT  CABAL.  179 

signed.  He  had  been  early  in  the  service,  and 
was  in  Cambridge  with  Washington,  but  had  long 
been  secretly  hostile  to  him.  Gates,  who  had 
been  Washington's  companion  in  Virginia,  was  an 
ambitious  man  who  never  lost  an  opportunity  of* 
looking  after  his  own  interest,  and  had  been  es- 
pecially fortunate  in  being  appointed  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  northern  army  just  as  it  achieved  the 
famous  victory  over  Burgoyne. 

The  defeat  at  Brandywine,  the  failure  to  make 
Gerinantown  a  great  success,  and  the  occupation 
of  Philadelphia  by  the  British  troops,  while  the 
American  army  was  suffering  at  Valley  Forge  — 
all  this  seemed  to  many  a  sorry  story  compared 
with  the  brilliant  victory  at  Saratoga.  There  had 
always  been  those  who  thought  Washington  slow 
and  cautious.  John  Adams  was  one  of  these,  and 
he  expressed  himself  as  heartily  glad  "that  the 
glory  of  turning  the  tide  of  arms  was  not  imme- 
diately due  to  the  commander-in-chief."  Others 
shook  their  heads  and  said  that  the  people  of 
America  had  been  guilty  of  idolatry  by  making  a 
man  their  god  ;  and  that,  besides,  the  army  would 
become  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  people  if 
it  were  allowed  to  be  so  influenced  by  one  man. 

Conway  was  the  foremost  of  these  critics.  "  No 
man  was  more  a  gentleman  than  General  Wash- 
ington, or  appeared  to  more  advantage  at  his  ta- 
ble, or  in  the  usual  intercourse  of  life,"  he  would 
say ;  then  he  would  give  his  shoulders  a  shrug, 


180  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

and  look  around  and  add,  "  but  as  to  his  talents 
for  the  command  of  an  army,  they  were  miserable 
indeed." 

"  Gates  was  the  general ! "  Conway  said. 
"  There  was  a  man  who  could  fight,  and  win  vic- 
tories ! " 

Gates  himself  was  in  a  mood  to  believe  it. 
He  had  been  so  intoxicated  by  his  success  against 
Burgoyne  that  he  thought  himself  the  man  of  the 
day,  and  quite  forgot  to  send  a  report  of  the  ac- 
tion to  his  commander-in-chief.  Washington  re- 
buked him  in  a  letter  which  was  severe  in  its  quiet 
tone.  He  congratulated  Gates  on  his  great  suc- 
cess, and  added,  "  At  the  same  time,  I  cannot  but 
regret  that  a  matter  of  such  magnitude,  and  so  in- 
teresting to  our  general  operations,  should  have 
reached  me  by  report  only ;  or  through  the  channel 
of  letters  not  bearing  that  authenticity  which  the 
importance  of  it  required,  and  which  it  would  have 
received  by  a  line  over  your  signature  stating  the 
simple  fact." 

Gates  may  have  winced  under  the  rebuke,  but 
he  was  then  listening  to  Conway's  flattery,  and 
that  was  more  agreeable  to  him.  Conway,  on  his 
part,  found  Gates  a  convenient  man  to  set  up  as  a 
rival  to  Washington.  He  himself  did  not  aspire 
to  be  commander-in-chief,  though  he  would  have 
had  no  doubt  as  to  his  capacity.  Washington 
knew  him  well.  "  His  merit  as  an  officer,"  wrote 
the  commander-in-chief,  "  and  his  importance  in 


THE  CONWAT  CABAL.  1S1 

this  army  exist  more  in  his  own  imagination  than 
in  reality.  For  it  is  a  maxim  with  him  to  leave  no 
service  of  his  untold,  nor  to  want  anything  which 
is  to  be  obtained  by  importunity."  Conway 
thought  Gates  was  the  rising  man,  and  he  meant 
to  rise  with  him.  He  filled  his  ear  with  things 
which  he  thought  would  please  him,  and  among 
other  letters  wrote  him  one  in  which  these  words 
occurred  :  "  Heaven  has  determined  to  save  your 
country,  or  a  weak  general  and  bad  counselors 
would  have  ruined  it." 

Now  Gates  was  foolish  enough  to  show  this  let- 
ter to  Wilkinson,  one  of  his  aids,  and  Wilkinson 
repeated  it  to  an  aid  of  Lord  Stirling,  one  of 
Washington's  generals,  and  Lord  Stirling  at  once 
sat  down  and  wrote  it  off  to  Washington.  There- 
upon Washington,  who  knew  Conway  too  well  to 
waste  any  words  upon  him,  sat  down  and  wrote 
him  this  letter :  — 

"  SIR,  —  A  letter  which  I  received  last  night  con- 
tained the  following  paragraph  :  — 

" '  In  a  letter  from  General  Conway  to  General 
Gates  he  says  :  Heaven  has  determined  to  save  your 
country,  or  a  weak  general  and  bad  counselors  would 
have  ruined  it.' 

"  I  am,  Sir,  your  humble  servant, 

"GEORGE  WASHINGTON." 

That  was  all,  but  it  was  quite  enough  to  throw 
Conway  and  Gates  and  Mifflin  into  a  panic.  How 
did  Washington  get  hold  of  the  sentence  ?  Had 


182  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

he  seen  any  other  letters?  How  much  did  he 
know  ?  In  point  of  fact,  that  was  all  that  Wash- 
ington had  seen.  He  had  a  contempt  for  Con  way. 
He  knew  of  Mifflin's  hostility  and  that  Gates  was 
now  cool  to  him ;  but  he  did  not  suspect  Gates  of 
any  intrigue,  and  he  supposed  for  a  while  that 
Wilkinson's  message  had  been  intended  only  to 
warn  him  of  Conway's  evil  mind. 

Gates  was  greatly  perplexed  to  know  what  to 
do,  but  he  finally  wrote  to  Washington  as  if  there 
were  some  wretch  who  had  been  stealing  letters 
and  might  be  discovering  the  secrets  of  the  Ameri- 
can leaders.  He  begged  Washington  to  help  him 
find  the  rascal.  Washington  replied,  giving  him 
the  exact  manner  in  which  the  letter  came  into  his 
hands,  and  then  closed  with  a  few  sentences  that 
showed  Gates  clearly  that  he  had  lost  the  confi- 
dence of  his  commander-in-chief. 

That  particular  occasion  passed,  but  presently 
the  cabal  showed  its  head  again,  this  time  working 
through  Congress.  It  secured  the  appointment 
of  a  Board  of  War,  with  Gates  at  the  head,  and  a 
majority  of  the  members  from  men  who  were  hos- 
tile to  Washington.  Now,  they  thought,  Wash- 
ington will  resign,  and  to  help  matters  on  they 
spread  the  report  that  Washington  was  about  to 
resign.  The  general  checkmated  them  at  once  by 
a  letter  to  a  friend,  in  which  he  wrote  :  — 

*  To  report  a  design  of  this  kind  is  among  the  arts 


THE   CON  WAY  CABAL.  183 

which  those  who  are  endeavoring  to  effect  a  change  are 
practicing  to  bring  it  to  pass.  .  .  .  While  the  public  are 
satisfied  with  my  endeavors,  I  mean  not  to  shrink  from 
the  cause.  But  the  moment  her  voice,  not  that  of  fac- 
tion, calls  upon  me  to  resign,  I  shall  do  it  with  as  much 
pleasure  as  ever  the  wearied  traveler  retired  to  rest." 

The  cabal  was  not  yet  defeated.  It  had  failed 
by  roundabout  methods.  It  looked  about  in  Con- 
gress and  counted  the  disaffected  to  see  if  it  would 
be  possible  to  get  a  majority  vote  in  favor  of  a 
motion  to  arrest  the  commander-in-chief.  So  at 
least  the  story  runs  which,  from  its  nature,  would 
not  be  found  in  any  record,  but  was  whispered 
from  one  man  to  another.  The  day  came  when 
the  motion  was  to  be  tried ;  the  conspiracy  leaked 
out,  and  Washington's  friends  bestirred  them- 
selves. They  needed  one  more  vote.  They  sent 
post-haste  for  one  of  their  number,  Gouverneur 
Morris,  who  was  absent  in  camp ;  but  they  feared 
they  could  not  get  him  in  time.  In  their  extrem- 
ity, they  went  to  William  Duer,  a  member  from 
New  York,  who  was  dangerously  ill.  Duer  sent 
for  his  doctor. 

"  Doctor,"  he  asked,  "  can  I  be  carried  to  Con- 
gress ?  " 

"  Yes,  but  at  the  risk  of  your  life,"  replied  the 
physician. 

"Do  you  mean  that  I  should  expire  before 
reaching  the  place  ? "  earnestly  inquired  the  pa- 
tient. 


184  GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

"  No,"  came  the  answer ;  "  but  I  would  not  an- 
swer for  your  leaving  it  alive." 

"  Very  well,  sir.  You  have  done  your  duty  and 
I  will  do  mine  !  "  exclaimed  Duer.  "  Prepare  a 
litter  for  me ;  if  you  will  not,  somebody  else  will, 
but  I  prefer  your  aid." 

The  demand  was  in  earnest,  and  Duer  had  al- 
ready started  when  it  was  announced  that  Morris 
had  returned  and  that  he  would  not  be  needed. 
Morris  had  come  direct  from  the  camp  with  the 
latest  news  of  what  was  going  on  there.  His  vote 
would  make  it  impossible  for  the  enemies  of 
Washington  to  carry  their  point ;  their  opportu- 
nity was  lost,  and  they  never  recovered  it. 

It  was  not  the  end  of  the  cabal,  however.  They 
still  cherished  their  hostility  to  Washington,  and 
they  sought  to  injure  him  where  he  would  feel  the 
wound  most  keenly.  They  tried  to  win  from  him 
the  young  Marquis  de  La  Fayette,  who  had  come 
from  France  to  join  the  American  army,  and 
whom  Washington  had  taken  to  his  heart.  La 
Fayette  was  ambitious  and  enthusiastic.  Conway, 
who  had  been  in  France,  did  his  best  to  attach 
himself  to  the  young  Frenchman,  but  he  betrayed 
his  hatred  of  Washington,  and  that  was  enough  to 
estrange  La  Fayette.  Then  a  winter  campaign  in 
Canada  was  planned,  and  the  cabal  intrigued  to 
have  La  Fayette  appointed  to  command  it.  It  was 
argued  that  as  a  Frenchman  he  would  have  an 
influence  over  the  French  Canadians.  But  the 


THE  CON  WAY  CABAL.  185 

plotters  hoped  that,  away  from  Washington,  the 
young  marquis  could  be  more  easily  worked  upon, 
and  it  was  intended  that  Conway  should  be  his 
second  in  command. 

Of  course,  in  contriving  this  plan,  Washington 
was  not  consulted ;  but  the  moment  La  Fayette 
was  approached,  he  appealed  to  Washington  for 
advice.  Washington  saw  through  the  device,  but 
he  at  once  said,  "  I  would  rather  it  should  be  you 
than  another."  La  Fayette  insisted  on  Kalb  be- 
ing second  in  command  instead  of  Conway,  whom 
he  disliked  and  distrusted.  Congress  was  in  ses- 
sion at  York,  and  thither  La  Fayette  went  to  re- 
ceive his  orders.  Gates,  who  spent  much  of  his 
time  in  the  neighborhood  of  Congress,  seeking  to 
influence  the  members,  was  there,  and  La  Fayette 
was  at  once  invited  to  join  him  and  his  friends  at 
dinner.  The  talk  ran  freely,  and  great  things 
were  promised  of  the  Canada  expedition,  but  not 
a  word  was  said  about  Washington.  La  Fayette 
listened  and  noticed.  He  thought  of  the  contrast 
between  the  meagre  fare  and  the  sacrifices  at  Val- 
ley Forge,  and  this  feast  at  which  he  was  a  guest. 
He  watched  his  opportunity,  and  near  the  end  of 
the  dinner,  he  said :  — 

"  I  have  a  toast  to  propose.  There  is  one  health, 
gentlemen,  which  we  have  not  yet  drunk.  I  have 
the  honor  to  propose  it  to  you  :  The  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  armies  of  the  United  States  !  " 

It  was  a  challenge  which  no  one  dared  openly 


186  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

to  take  up,  but  there  was  an  end  to  the  good  spirits 
of  the  company.  La  Fayette  had  shown  his  colors, 
and  he  was  let  alone  after  that.  Indeed,  the  Can- 
ada  expedition  never  was  undertaken,  for  the  men 
who  were  urging  it  were  not  in  earnest  about  any- 
thing but  diminishing  the  honor  of  Washington. 
It  is  the  nature  of  cabals  and  intrigues  that  they 
flourish  in  the  dark.  They  cannot  bear  the  light. 
As  soon  as  these  hostile  intentions  began  to  reach 
the  ears  of  the  public,  great  was  the  indignation 
aroused,  and  one  after  another  of  the  conspirators 
made  haste  to  disown  any  evil  purpose.  Gates 
and  Mifflin  each  publicly  avowed  their  entire  con- 
fidence in  Washington,  and  Conway,  who  had 
fought  a  duel  and  supposed  himself  to  be  dying, 
made  a  humble  apology.  The  cabal  melted  away, 
leaving  Washington  more  secure  than  ever  in  the 
confidence  of  men  —  all  the  more  secure  that  he 
did  not  lower  himself  by  attempting  the  same  arts 
against  his  traducers.  When  Conway  was  utter- 
ing his  libels  behind  his  back,  Washington  was 
openly  declaring  his  judgment  of  Conway ;  and 
throughout  the  whole  affair,  Washington  kept  his 
hands  clean,  and  went  his  way  with  a  manly  dis- 
regard of  his  enemies. 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 

MONMOUTH. 

THE  news  of  the  French  alliance,  and  conse- 
quent war  between  France  and  England,  com- 
pelled the  English  to  leave  Philadelphia.  They 
had  taken  their  ease  there  during  the  winter,  while 
hardships  and  Steuben's  drilling  and  Washington's 
unflagging  zeal  had  made  the  American  army  at 
Valley  Forge  strong  and  determined.  A  French 
fleet  might  at  any  time  sail  up  the  Delaware, 
and  with  the  American  army  in  the  rear,  Phila- 
delphia would  be  a  hard  place  to  hold.  So  Gen- 
eral Howe  turned  his  command  over  to  General 
Clinton,  and  went  home  to  England,  and  General 
Clinton  set  about  marching  his  army  across  New 
Jersey  to  New  York. 

The  moment  the  troops  left  Philadelphia  armed 
men  sprang  up  all  over  New  Jersey  to  contest 
their  passage,  and  Washington  set  his  army  in 
motion,  following  close  upon  the  heels  of  the  en- 
emy, who  were  making  for  Staten  Island.  There 
was  a  question  whether  they  should  attack  the 
British  and  bring  on  a  general  engagement,  or 
only  follow  them  and  vex  them.  The  generals  on 
whom  Washington  most  relied,  Greene,  La  Fay- 


188  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

ette,  and  Wayne,  all  good  fighters,  urged  that  it 
would  be  a  shame  to  let  the  enemy  leave  New  Jer- 
sey without  a  severe  punishment.  The  majority 
of  generals  in  the  council,  however,  strongly  op- 
posed the  plan  of  giving  battle.  They  said  that 
the  French  alliance  would  undoubtedly  put  an  end 
to  the  war  at  once.  Why,  then,  risk  life  and  suc- 
cess? The  British  army,  moreover,  was  strong 
and  well  equipped. 

The  most  strenuous  opponent  of  the  fighting 
plan  was  General  Charles  Lee.  When  he  was 
left  in  command  of  a  body  of  troops  at  the  time  of 
Washington's  crossing  the  Hudson  River  more 
than  a  year  before,  his  orders  were  to  hold  himself 
in  readiness  to  join  Washington  at  any  time.  In 
his  march  across  New  Jersey,  Washington  had  re- 
peatedly sent  for  Lee,  but  Lee  had  delayed  in  an 
unaccountable  manner,  and  finally  was  himself 
surprised  by  a  company  of  dragoons,  and  taken 
captive.  For  a  year  he  had  been  held  a  prisoner, 
and  only  lately  had  been  released  on  exchange. 
He  had  returned  to  the  army  while  the  cabal 
against  Washington  was  going  on,  and  had  taken 
part  in  it,  for  he  always  felt  that  he  ought  to  be 
first  and  Washington  second.  He  was  second  in 
command  now,  and  his  opinion  had  great  weight. 
He  was  a  trained  soldier,  and  besides,  in  his  long 
captivity  he  had  become  well  acquainted  with 
General  Clinton,  and  he  professed  to  know  well 
the  condition  and  temper  of  the  British  officers. 


M  ON  MOUTH.  189 

Washington  thus  found  himself  unsupported  by 
a  majority  of  his  officers.  But  he  had  no  doubt  in 
his  own  mind  that  the  policy  of  attack  was  a  sound 
one.  All  had  agreed  that  it  was  well  to  harass 
the  enemy  ;  he  therefore  ordered  La  Fayette  with 
a  large  division  to  fall  upon  the  enemy  at  an  ex- 
posed point.  He  thought  it  not  unlikely  that  this 
woidd  bring  on  a  general  action,  and  he  disposed 
his  forces  so  as  to  be  ready  for  such  an  emergency. 
He  gave  the  command  to  La  Fayette,  because  Lee 
had  disapproved  the  plan  ;  but  after  La  Fayette 
had  set  out,  Lee  came  to  Washington  and  declared 
that  La  Fayette's  division  was  so  large  as  to  make 
it  almost  an  independent  army,  and  that  therefore 
he  would  like  to  change  his  mind  and  take  com- 
mand. It  never  would  do  to  have  his  junior  in 
such  authority. 

Here  was  a  dilemma.  Washington  could  not 
recall  La  Fayette.  He  wished  to  make  use  of 
Lee ;  so  he  gave  Lee  two  additional  brigades,  sent 
him  forward  to  join  La  Fayette,  when,  as  his  sen- 
ior, he  would  of  course  command  the  entire  force ; 
and  at  the  same  time  he  notified  La  Fayette  of 
what  he  had  done,  trusting  to  his  sincere  devotion 
to  the  cause  in  such  an  emergency. 

When  Clinton  found  that  a  large  force  was 
close  upon  him,  he  took  up  his  position  at  Mon- 
mouth  Court  House,  now  Freehold,  New  Jersey, 
and  prepared  to  meet  the  Americans.  Washing- 
ton knew  Clinton's  movements,  and  sent  word  to 


190  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

Lee  at  once  to  attack  the  British,  unless  there 
should  be  very  powerful  reasons  to  the  contrary  ; 
adding  that  he  himself  was  bringing  up  the  rest 
of  the  army.  Lee  had  joined  La  Fayette  and  was 
now  in  command  of  the  advance.  La  Fayette 
was  eager  to  move  upon  the  enemy. 

"  You  do  not  know  British  soldiers,"  said  Lee ; 
"  we  cannot  stand  against  them.  We  shall  cer- 
tainly be  driven  back  at  first,  and  we  must  be 
cautious." 

"  Perhaps  so,"  said  La  Fayette.  "  But  we  have 
beaten  British  soldiers,  and  we  can  do  it  again." 

Soon  after,  one  of  Washington's  aids  appeared 
for  intelligence,  and  La  Fayette,  in  despair  at  Lee's 
inaction,  sent  the  messenger  to  urge  Washington 
to  come  at  once  to  the  front ;  that  he  was  needed. 
Washington  was  already  on  the  way,  before  the 
messenger  reached  him,  when  he  was  met  by  a 
little  fif er  boy,  who  cried  out :  — 

"  They  are  all  coming  this  way,  your  honor." 

"  Who  are  coming,  my  little  man  ? "  asked 
General  Knox,  who  was  riding  by  Washington. 

"Why,  our  boys,  your  honor,  our  boys,  and  the 
British  right  after  them." 

"  Impossible  !  "  exclaimed  Washington,  and  he 
galloped  to  a  hill  just  ahead.  To  his  amazement 
and  dismay,  he  saw  his  men  retreating.  He  lost 
not  an  instant,  but,  putting  spurs  to  his  horse, 
dashed  forward.  After  him  flew  the  officers  who 
had  been  riding  by  his  side,  but  they  could  not 


M  ON  MOUTH.  191 

overtake  him.  His  horse,  covered  with  foam, 
shot  down  the  road  over  a  bridge  and  up  the  hill 
beyond.  The  retreating  column  saw  him  come. 
The  men  knew  him ;  they  stopped ;  they  made 
way  for  the  splendid-looking  man,  as  he,  their 
leader,  rode  headlong  into  the  midst  of  them. 
Lee  was  there,  ordering  the  retreat,  and  Wash- 
ington drew  his  rein  as  he  came  upon  him.  A 
moment  of  terrible  silence — then  Washington 
burst  out,  his  eyes  flashing :  — 

"  What,  sir,  is  the  meaning  of  this  ?  " 

"  Sir,  sir,"  stammered  Lee. 

"  I  desire  to  know,  sir,  the  meaning  of  this  dis- 
order and  confusion  ?  " 

Lee,  enraged  now  by  Washington's  towering 
passion,  made  an  angry  reply.  He  declared  that 
the  whole  affair  was  against  his  opinion. 

"  You  are  a  poltroon !  "  flashed  back  Washing- 
ton, with  an  oath.  "  Whatever  your  opinion  may 
have  been,  I  expected  my  orders  to  be  obeyed." 

"  These  men  cannot  face  the  British  grena- 
diers," answered  Lee. 

"  They  can  do  it,  and  they  shall !  "  exclaimed 
Washington,  galloping  off  to  survey  the  ground. 
Presently  he  came  back  ;  his  wrath  had  gone  down 
in  the  presence  of  the  peril  to  the  army.  He  would 
waste  no  strength  in  cursing  Lee. 

"  Will  you  retain  the  command  here,  or  shall 
I  ?  "  he  asked.  "  If  you  will,  I  will  return  to  the 
main  body  and  have  it  formed  on  the  next  height." 


192  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

"  It  is  equal  to  me  where  I  command,"  said 
Lee,  sullenly. 

"  Then  remain  here,"  said  Washington.  "  I 
expect  you  to  take  proper  means  for  checking  the 
enemy." 

"  Your  orders  shall  be  obeyed,  and  I  shall  not 
be  the  first  to  leave  the  ground,"  replied  Lee,  with 
spirit. 

The  rest  of  the  day  the  battle  raged,  and  when 
night  came  the  enemy  had  been  obliged  to  fall 
back,  and  Washington  determined  to  follow  up  his 
success  in  the  morning.  He  directed  all  the  troops 
to  lie  on  their  arms  where  they  were.  He  himself 
lay  stretched  on  the  ground  beneath  a  tree,  his 
cloak  wrapped  about  him.  About  midnight,  an 
officer  came  near  with  a  message,  but  hesitated, 
reluctant  to  waken  him. 

"Advance,  sir,  and  deliver  your  message," 
Washington  called  out ;  "  I  lie  here  to  think,  and 
not  to  sleep." 

In  the  morning,  Washington  prepared  to  renew 
the  attack,  but  the  British  had  slipped  away  under 
cover  of  the  darkness,  not  willing  to  venture  an- 
other battle. 

Pursuit,  except  by  some  cavalry,  was  unavail- 
ing. The  men  were  exhausted.  The  sun  beat 
down  fiercely,  and  the  hot  sand  made  walking 
difficult.  Moreover,  the  British  fleet  lay  off  Sandy 
Hook,  and  an  advance  in  that  direction  would  lead 
the  army  nearer  to  the  enemy's  reinforcements. 


M  ON  MOUTH.  193 

Accordingly  Washington  marched  his  army  to 
Brunswick,  and  thence  to  the  Hudson  River, 
crossed  it,  and  encamped  again  near  White  Plains. 

After  the  battle  of  Monmouth,  Lee  wrote  an 
angry  letter  to  Washington  and  received  a  cool 
one  in  reply.  Lee  demanded  a  court-martial,  and 
Washington  at  once  ordered  it.  Three  charged 
were  made,  and  Lee  was  convicted  of  disobedience 
of  orders  in  not  attacking  the  enemy  on  the  28th 
of  June,  agreeably  to  repeated  instructions  ;  mis- 
behavior before  the  enemy  on  the  same  day,  by 
making  an  unnecessary  and  disorderly  retreat ; 
and  disrespect  to  the  commander-in-chief.  He 
was  suspended  from  the  army  for  a  year,  and  he 
never  returned  to  it.  Long  after  his  death  facts 
were  brought  to  light  which  make  it  seem  more 
than  probable  that  General  Lee  was  so  eaten  up 
by  vanity,  by  jealousy  of  Washington,  and  by  a 
love  of  his  profession  above  a  love  of  his  country, 
that  he  was  a  traitor  at  heart,  and  that  instead  of 
being  ready  to  sacrifice  himself  for  his  country,  he 
was  ready  to  sacrifice  the  country  to  his  own  will- 
ful ambition  and  pride. 

But  his  disgrace  was  the  end  of  all  opposition  to 
Washington.  From  that  time  there  was  no  ques- 
tion as  to  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  army  and 
the  people. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  LAST  CAMPAIGN. 

THE  battle  of  Monmouth  was  the  last  great 
battle  before  the  final  victory  at  Yorktown.  The 
three  and  a  half  years  which  intervened,  however, 
were  busy  years  for  Washington.  He  was  obliged 
to  settle  disputes  between  the  French  and  Ameri- 
can officers,  to  order  the  disposition  of  the  forces, 
and  to  give  his  attention  to  all  the  suggestions  of 
plans  for  action.  He  was  greatly  concerned  that 
Congress  should  be  growing  weak  and  ineffi- 
cient. Here  was  a  man,  whom  some  had  foolishly 
supposed  to  be  aiming  at  supreme  power,  only 
anxious  that  the  civil  government  should  be 
strengthened.  He  saw  very  clearly  that  while  the 
separate  States  were  looking  after  their  several 
affairs,  the  Congress  which  represented  the  whole 
country  was  losing  its  influence  and  power.  "  I 
think  our  political  system,"  he  wrote,  "may  be 
compared  to  the  mechanism  of  a  clock,  and  that 
we  should  derive  a  lesson  from  it ;  for  it  answers 
no  good  purpose  to  keep  the  smaller  wheels  in 
order,  if  the  greater  one,  which  is  the  support  and 
prime  mover  of  the  whole,  is  neglected." 

He  was  indignant  at  the  manner  in  which  Con- 


THE  LAST  CAMPAIGN.  195 

gressmen,  and  others  who  were  concerned  in  the 
affairs  of  the  country,  spent  their  time  in  Phila- 
delphia. "  An  assembly,"  he  said,  "  a  concert,  a 
dinner,  a  supper,  that  will  cost  three  or  four  hun- 
dred pounds,  will  not  only  take  off  men  from  act- 
ing in  this  business,  but  even  from  thinking  of  it ; 
while  a  great  part  of  the  officers  of  our  army,  from 
absolute  necessity,  are  quitting  the  service  ;  and 
the  more  virtuous  few,  rather  than  do  this,  are 
sinking  by  sure  degrees  into  beggary  and  want." 
How  simply  he  himself  lived  may  be  seen  by  the 
jocose  letter  which  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  inviting 
him  to  dine  with  him  at  headquarters.  The  letter 
is  addressed  to  Dr.  Cochran,  surgeon-general  in 
the  army  :  — 

"  DEAR  DOCTOR,  —  I  have  asked  Mrs.  Cochran  and 
Mrs.  Livingston  to  dine  with  me  to-morrow ;  but  am  I 
not  in  honor  bound  to  apprise  them  of  their  fare  ?  As 
I  hate  deception,  even  where  the  imagination  only  is 
concerned,  I  will.  It  is  needless  to  premise  that  my 
table  is  large  enough  to  hold  the  ladies.  Of  this  they 
had  ocular  proof  yesterday.  To  say  how  it  is  usually 
covered  is  rather  more  essential ;  and  this  shall  be  the 
purport  of  my  letter. 

"  Since  our  arrival  at  this  happy  spot,  we  have  had 
a  ham,  sometimes  a  shoulder  of  bacon,  to  grace  the  head 
of  the  table  ;  a  piece  of  roast  beef  adorns  the  foot ;  and 
a  dish  of  beans  or  greens,  almost  imperceptible,  deco- 
rates the  centre.  When  the  cook  has  a  mind  to  cut  a 
figure,  which  I  presume  will  be  the  case  to-morrow,  we 


196  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

have  two  beefsteak  pies,  or  dishes  of  crabs,  dividing 
the  space  and  reducing  the  distance  between  dish  and 
dish,  to  about  six  feet,  which,  without  them,  would  be 
near  twelve  feet  apart.  Of  late  he  has  had  the  surpris- 
ing sagacity  to  discover  that  apples  will  make  pies  ;  and 
it  is  a  question  if,  in  the  violence  of  his  efforts,  we  do 
not  get  one  of  apples,  instead  of  having  both  of  beef- 
steaks. If  the  ladies  can  put  up  with  such  entertain- 
ment, and  will  submit  to  partake  of  it  on  plates  once 
tin  but  now  iron  (not  become  so  by  the  labor  of  scour- 
ing), I  shall  be  happy  to  see  them  ;  and  am,  dear 
Doctor,  yours." 

The  main  activity  of  the  two  armies  in  the  last 
years  of  the  war  was  in  the  South,  where  General 
Gates,  and  after  him  General  Greene,  were  engaged 
in  a  contest  with  Lord  Cornwallis.  Washington, 
meanwhile,  kept  his  position  on  the  Hudson,  where 
he  could  watch  the  movements  of  the  enemy  still 
in  strong  force  in  New  York.  The  care  of  the 
whole  country  was  on  his  shoulders,  for,  except  by 
his  personal  endeavors,  it  was  impossible  for  the 
armies  to  secure  even  what  support  they  did  receive 
from  Congress  and  the  state  governments.  The 
letters  written  by  Washington  during  this  period 
disclose  the  numberless  difficulties  which  he  was 
obliged  to  meet  and  overcome.  He  was  the  one 
man  to  whom  all  turned,  and  he  gave  freely  of 
himself.  How  completely  he  ignored  his  own 
personal  interests  may  be  seen  by  an  incident 
which  occurred  at  Mount  Vernon. 


THE  LAST  CAMPAIGN.  197 

Several  British  vessels  had  sailed  up  the  Chesa- 
peake and  Potomac,  and  had  pillaged  the  country 
roundabout.  When  these  vessels  lay  off  Mount 
Vernon,  the  manager  of  Washington's  estate, 
anxious  to  save  the  property  under  his  charge, 
went  out  and  bought  off  the  marauders  by  a  lib- 
eral gift.  Washington  wrote  at  once,  rebuking 
him  for  his  conduct.  In  the  letter,  he  used  these 
words  :  — 

"  I  am  very  sorry  to  hear  of  your  loss :  I  am  a  little 
sorry  to  hear  of  my  own  ;  but  that  which  gives  me  most 
concern  is  that  you  should  go  on  board  the  enemy's 
vessel  and  furnish  them  with  refreshments.  It  would 
have  been  a  less  painful  circumstance  to  me  to  have  heard 
that,  in  consequence  of  your  non-compliance  with  their 
request,  they  had  burnt  my  house  and  laid  the  plantation 
in  ruins.  You  ought  to  have  considered  yourself  as 
my  representative,  and  should  have  reflected  on  the  bad 
example  of  communicating  with  the  enemy,  and  making 
a  voluntary  offer  of  refreshments  to  them  with  a  view 
to  prevent  a  conflagration.  It  was  not  in  your  power, 
I  acknowledge,  to  prevent  them  from  sending  a  flag  on 
shore,  and  you  did  right  to  meet  it ;  but  you  should,  in 
the  same  instant  that  the  business  of  it  was  unfolded, 
have  declared  explicitly  that  it  was  improper  for  you 
to  yield  to  their  request;  after  which,  if  they  had  pro- 
ceeded to  help  themselves  by  force,  you  could  but  have 
submitted  ;  and  being  unprovided  for  defense,  this  was 
to  be  preferred  to  a  feeble  opposition,  which  only  serves 
as  a  pretext  to  burn  and  destroy." 

In  July,  1781,  Washington's  army,  which  was 


198  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

watching  Sir  Henry  Clinton  in  New  York,  was  re- 
eiiforced  by  the  French  troops,  and  at  the  same 
time  a  French  squadron  cruised  off  the  coast  ready 
to  cooperate.  General  Greene  was  crowding  Lord 
Cornwallis  in  the  South  and  edging  him  up  into 
Virginia,  and  the  design  was  to  keep  the  two 
British  armies  apart,  and  defeat  each.  But  the 
siege  of  New  York  was  likely  to  be  a  long  one,  and 
the  French  admiral  had  orders  to  repair  to  the 
West  Indies  in  the  fall.  So  time  was  precious. 

Accordingly,  Washington  determined  to  mass 
his  troops  in  Virginia,  unite  the  northern  and 
southern  armies,  and,  in  conjunction  with  the 
French  fleet,  completely  crush  Cornwallis.  It  was 
necessary,  however,  that  Clinton,  in  New  York, 
should  suspect  nothing  of  this  scheme,  or  else  he, 
too,  would  join  Cornwallis.  The  change  of  plan 
was  carried  out  with  great  skill.  Letters  were 
written  detailing  imaginary  movements,  and  these 
letters  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  British  general, 
who  supposed  that  great  preparations  were  making 
to  attack  him  in  New  York.  Meanwhile,  a  few 
troops  only  were  left  in  camp  at  White  Plains, 
while  the  rest  of  the  army  crossed  the  Hudson  and 
moved  rapidly  to  Virginia.  It  was  not  until  the 
two  armies  were  within  reach  of  each  other  that 
Clinton  learned  what  had  really  been  going  on. 

Washington  took  this  opportunity  to  make  a  fly- 
ing visit  to  Mount  Vernon.  It  was  the  first  time 
he  had  been  there  since  he  left  it  to  attend  that 


THE  LAST  CAMPAIGN.  199 

meeting  of  the  Continental  Congress  at  which  he 
had  been  chosen  commander-in-chief.  He  had 
never  lost  sight  of  his  home,  however.  Thither 
his  thoughts  often  turned,  and  many  a  time,  amid 
the  anxieties  and  cares  of  his  burdensome  life,  he 
looked  with  longing  toward  the  quiet  haven  of 
Mount  Vernon.  He  wrote  weekly  to  the  manager 
of  his  estate,  and  he  gave  him  one  general  rule  of 
conduct  in  this  wise  :  "Let  the  hospitality  of  the 
house,  with  respect  to  the  poor,  be  kept  up.  Let 
no  one  go  away  hungry.  If  any  of  this  kind  of 
people  should  be  in  want  of  corn,  supply  their 
necessities,  provided  it  does  not  encourage  them 
in  idleness." 

He  stayed  but  a  couple  of  days  at  Mount  Ver- 
non, where  he  was  joined  by  Count  Rochambeau, 
and  then  he  hastened  to  the  headquarters  of  the 
army  at  William  sburg.  It  was  now  the  middle  of 
September.  Cornwallis  was  at  Yorktown,  and 
everything  depended  on  the  ability  of  the  com- 
bined French  and  American  forces  to  capture  his 
army  before  he  could  be  reenforced  by  Clinton. 
The  leading  generals  of  the  American  army  were 
there,  eagerly  directing  operations,  and  Washing- 
ton was  at  the  front  superintending  the  works,  for 
the  men  were  fighting  Cornwallis  with  the  spade 
as  well  as  with  cannon.  Washington  put  the 
match  to  the  first  gun  that  was  fired.  One  who 
was  in  the  army  at  the  time  relates  an  incident 
that  came  under  his  notice :  — 


200  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

"  A  considerable  cannonading  from  the  enemy ; 
one  shot  killed  three  men,  and  mortally  wounded 
another.  While  the  Rev.  Mr.  Evans,  our  chap 
lain,  was  standing  near  the  commander-in-chief, 
a  shot  struck  the  ground  so  near  as  to  cover  his 
hat  with  sand.  Being  much  agitated,  he  took  off 
his  hat,  and  said,  *  See  here,  General ! '  '  Mr. 
Evans,'  replied  his  excellency,  with  his  usual  com- 
posure, '  you  'd  better  carry  that  home  and  show 
it  to  your  wife  and  children.'  " 

Indeed,  it  seemed  to  many  that  Washington  bore 
a  charmed  life,  and  it  was  often  said  that  he  was 
under  the  special  protection  of  God.  He  was  fear- 
less, and  constantly  exposed  to  danger,  but  his 
constant  escapes  made  him  cool  and  self-possessed, 
and  the  admiration  of  his  men.  He  was  excited 
by  the  events  which  were  hurrying  the  war  to  the 
close,  and  he  watched  with  intense  earnestness  the 
several  assaults  which  were  made  on  the  works. 
Once  he  had  dismounted  and  was  standing  by 
Generals  Knox  and  Lincoln  at  the  grand  battery. 
It  was  not  a  safe  place,  for,  though  they  were  be- 
hind a  fortification,  it  was  quite  possible  for  shot 
to  enter  the  opening  through  which  they  were 
looking.  One  of  his  aids,  growing  nervous,  begged 
fiim  to  leave,  for  the  place  was  very  much  exposed. 

"  If  you  think  so,"  said  Washington,  "  you  are 
at  liberty  to  step  back."  Presently  a  ball  did 
strike  the  cannon,  and,  rolling  off,  fell  at  Wash- 
ington's feet.  General  Knox  seized  him  by  the 
arm. 


THE  LAST  CAMPAIGN.  201 

"  My  dear  General,"  said  he,  "  we  can't  spare 
you  yet." 

"  It 's  a  spent  ball,"  replied  Washington,  coolly. 
"  No  harm  is  done."  He  watched  the  action  until 
the  redoubts  which  his  men  had  been  assaulting 
were  taken  ;  then  he  drew  a  long  breath  of  relief 
and  turned  to  Knox. 

"  The  work  is  done,"  he  said  emphatically ; 
"  and  well  done." 

The  siege  was  short,  the  work  was  sharp,  for  it 
was  full  of  enthusiasm  and  hope,  and  when,  on 
October  19,  the  army  of  Lord  Cornwallis  sur- 
rendered to  General  Washington,  there  was  a 
tumult  of  rejoicing  in  camp  which  was  long  re- 
membered. Washington  issued  orders  that  the 
army  should  give  thanks  to  God.  "  Divine  ser- 
vice," he  said,  "  is  to  be  performed  to-morrow  in 
the  several  brigades  and  divisions.  The  com- 
mander-in-chief  earnestly  recommends  that  the 
troops  not  on  duty  should  universally  attend,  with 
that  seriousness  of  deportment  and  gratitude  of 
heart  which  the  recognition  of  such  reiterated  and 
astonishing  interpositions  of  Providence  demand 
of  us." 

The  officers  of  the  combined  armies  spent  some 
time  in  the  neighborhood,  and  there  was  a  great 
ball  given  at  Fredericksburg  by  the  citizens  of  the 
place.  The  most  distinguished  guest  was  the 
mother  of  Washington,  then  seventy-four  years 
old,  who  came  into  the  room  leaning  on  the  arm 


202  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

of  her  son.  She  was  quiet  and  dignified,  as  one 
after  another  of  the  French  officers  made  his  bow 
and  his  complimentary  speech  ;  but  I  think  there 
must  have  been  a  great  deal  of  motherly  pride  in 
her  heart,  though  it  is  said  that  when  her  George 
came  to  see  her  alone  after  the  victory  at  York- 
town,  she  spoke  to  him  of  his  health,  marked  the 
lines  of  care  on  his  face,  spoke  of  his  early  days, 
and  gave  him  a  mother's  caution,  but  said  nothing 
of  the  glory  he  had  won.  To  the  last  he  was  her 
boy,  and  not  America's  hero. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

WASHINGTON  RESIGNS  HIS  COMMISSION. 

AFTER  the  surrender  of  Yorktown  and  the  de- 
parture of  the  French,  Washington  established  his 
headquarters  at  Newburgh  on  the  Hudson.  There 
he  remained  with  the  army  until  it  was  disbanded ; 
and  the  house  in  which  he  lived  is  carefully  pre- 
served and  shown  as  an  historical  museum. 

There  is  a  pleasant  story  of  La  Fayette's  affec- 
tionate remembrance  of  the  life  there.  Just  be- 
fore his  death,  which  occurred  in  1834,  he  gave  a 
dinner  party  in  Paris  to  the  American  Minister 
and  some  friends  who  had  been  old  associates. 
Later  in  the  evening,  when  the  hour  for  supper 
came,  the  guests  were  ushered  into  a  room  which 
was  in  strange  contrast  with  the  elegance  of  the 
apartments  they  had  been  in.  The  ceiling  was 
low,  with  large  beams  crossing  it ;  there  was  a 
single  small,  uncurtained  window,  and  several 
small  doors.  It  looked  more  like  an  old-fashioned 
Dutch  kitchen  than  a  room  in  a  French  house.  A 
long,  rough  table  was  meagrely  set.  A  dish  of 
meat  stood  on  it,  some  uncouth-looking  pastry, 
and  wine  in  decanters  and  bottles,  ready  to  be 
poured  out  into  glasses  and  camp-mugs. 


204  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

"Do  you  know  where  we  are  now?"  asked  La 
Fayette  as  his  companions  looked  about  puzzled, 
and  as  if  in  a  dream.  "  Ah  !  the  seven  doors  and 
one  window !  and  the  silver  camp-goblets  !  We 
are  at  Washington's  headquarters  on  the  Hudson, 
fifty  years  ago  !  "  He  had  reproduced  the  room 
as  a  surprise  to  his  friends. 

Peace  did  not  come  at  once  after  Yorktown ; 
there  was  still  fighting  in  a  desultory  way,  but  all 
knew  that  the  end  was  not  far  off.  Yet  the  sol- 
diers could  not  go  back  to  their  homes,  and  Con- 
gress was  shamefully  remiss  about  paying  them. 
Murmurs  deep  and  loud  arose,  and  Washington 
suffered  keenly  from  the  neglect  shown  to  the 
army.  It  required  all  his  patience  and  tact  to 
keep  the  murmurs  from  breaking  out  into  violent 
action.  With  no  military  duty  to  perform,  and 
with  the  impatience  of  men  who  were  suffering  in- 
justice, the  officers  and  men  began  to  form  all 
sorts  of  plans. 

One  of  the  officers  —  and  how  many  agreed 
with  him  is  not  known,  but  the  sentiment  easily 
took  this  form  —  one  of  the  officers  wrote  to 
Washington  that  it  was  clear  that  Congress  was 
a  failure.  The  army  had  won  independence,  but 
no  reliance  could  be  placed  on  the  government. 
How  much  more  stable  was  the  government  of 
England  !  Would  not  such  a  government  be  af- 
ter all  the  best  for  America  ?  It  might  not  be 


WASHINGTON  RESIGNS  HIS  COMMISSION.     205 

necessary  to  call  the  head  of  the  government  a 
king,  though  even  that  title  many  would  prefer, 
but  the  head  ought  to  have  the  power  of  a  king. 
There  was  much  more  to  the  same  effect,  and  the 
letter  was  really  a  feeler  to  see  how  Washington 
would  look  upon  such  a  movement,  which,  of 
course,  aimed  to  make  him  the  monarch  of  the 
new  nation.  Washington  did  not  hesitate  a  mo- 
ment, but  wrote  a  letter  which  must  have  made 
the  officer's  ears  tingle,  however  honest  he  may 
have  been  in  his  opinion.  Washington  said  :  — 

"  With  a  mixture  of  great  surprise  and  astonishment, 
I  have  read  with  attention  the  sentiments  you  have 
submitted  to  my  perusal.  Be  assured,  sir,  no  occur- 
rence in  the  course  of  the  war  has  given  me  more  pain- 
ful sensations  than  your  information  of  there  being  such 
ideas  existing  in  the  army  as  you  have  expressed  and  I 
must  view  with  abhorrence  and  reprehend  with  severity. 
For  the  present,  the  communication  of  them  will  rest 
in  my  own  bosom,  unless  some  further  agitation  of  the 
matter  shall  make  a  disclosure  necessary.  I  am  much 
at  a  loss  to  conceive  what  part  of  my  conduct  could 
have  given  encouragement  to  an  address,  which,  to  me, 
seems  big  with  the  greatest  mischief  that  can  befall  any 
country.  If  I  am  not  deceived  in  the  knowledge  of 
myself,  you  could  not  have  found  a  person  to  whom 
your  schemes  are  more  disagreeable.  At  the  same 
time,  in  justice  to  my  own  feelings,  I  must  add  that  no 
man  possesses  a  more  sincere  wish  to  see  ample  justice 
done  to  the  army  than  I  do ;  and  as  far  as  my  powers 
and  influence  in  a  constitutional  way  extend,  they  shall 


206  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

be  employed  to  the  utmost  of  my  abilities  to  effect  it, 
should  there  be  any  occasion.  Let  me  conjure  you, 
then,  if  you  have  any  regard  for  your  country,  concern 
for  yourself  or  posterity,  or  respect  for  me,  to  banish 
these  thoughts  from  your  mind,  and  never  communicate, 
as  from  yourself  or  any  one  else,  a  sentiment  of  the 
like  nature." 

A  graver  peril  arose,  and  Washington  redeemed 
his  promise  to  stand  by  the  army.  In  spite  of  the 
united  effort  of  the  army  and  its  friends  in  Con- 
gress, no  satisfactory  arrangement  was  made  for 
paying  the  long-delayed  wages  due  to  the  soldiers. 
On  March  10,  1783,  a  notice  was  issued  in  the 
camp  at  Newburgh,  calling  a  meeting  of  the  offi- 
cers. The  notice  was  not  signed  by  any  name, 
and  with  it  was  sent  out  an  address  which  re- 
hearsed the  wrongs  suffered  by  the  army,  and 
hinted  that  the  time  had  come  when  the  soldiers 
must  take  matters  into  their  own  hands  and  com- 
pel Congress  to  attend  to  their  demands.  It  was 
an  appeal  to  which  the  officers  were  ready  to  listen, 
and  every  one  was  in  so  excited  a  condition  that 
it  was  impossible  to  say  what  might  not  be  done. 

Washington,  at  any  rate,  saw  there  was  great 
danger,  and  he  at  once  seized  the  occasion.  He 
issued  an  order  calling  attention  to  the  address, 
and  asking  that  the  meeting  should  be  postponed 
four  days  and  then  should  convene  at  his  invita- 
tion. This  was  to  give  the  men  time  to  cool  off. 
When  the  day  came,  Washington,  as  soon  as  the 


WASHINGTON  RESIGNS  HIS  COMMISSION.     207 

meeting  was  called  to  order,  made  a  long  and  pow- 
erful speech.  He  was  not  a  ready  speaker,  and 
so,  feeling  the  importance  of  the  occasion,  he  had 
written  out  what  he  had  to  say,  and  he  began  to 
read  it  to  the  officers.  He  had  read  only  a  sen- 
tence, when  he  stopped,  took  out  his  spectacles, 
and  said,  as  he  put  them  on  :  — 

"  Gentlemen,  you  will  pardon  me  for  putting 
on  my  glasses.  I  have  grown  gray  in  your  ser- 
vice, and  I  now  find  myself  growing  blind." 

It  was  a  simple  thing  to  say,  and  simply  said, 
but  it  touched  the  soldiers,  and  made  them  very 
tender  to  their  commander,  and  more  ready  even 
than  before  to  listen  to  his  counsel.  Washington 
went  on  to  say  :  — 

"  If  my  conduct  heretofore  has  not  evinced  to  you 
that  I  have  been  a  faithful  friend  to  the  army,  my  dec- 
laration of  it  at  this  time  would  be  equally  unavailing 
and  improper.  But,  as  I  was  among  the  first  who  em- 
barked in  the  cause  of  our  common  country  ;  as  I  have 
never  left  your  side  one  moment,  save  when  called  from 
you  on  public  duty  ;  as  I  have  been  the  constant  com- 
panion and  witness  of  your  distresses,  and  not  among 
the  last  to  feel  and  acknowledge  your  merits  ;  as  I  have 
considered  my  own  military  reputation  as  inseparably 
connected  with  that  of  the  army  ;  as  my  heart  has  ever 
expanded  with  joy,  when  I  have  heard  its  praises,  and 
my  indignation  has  arisen,  when  the  mouth  of  detrac- 
tion has  been  opened  against  it ;  it  can  scarcely  be  sup- 
posed, at  this  late  stage  of  the  war,  that  I  am  indiffer- 
ent to  its  interests," 


208  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

He  used  all  his  personal  influence  to  heal  the 
breach  between  the  army  and  Congress,  and  he 
brought  the  officers  back  to  a  more  reasonable 
mind.  All  the  while  he  was  writing  to  members 
of  Congress  and  doing  his  utmost  to  bring  about 
a  just  treatment  of  the  army. 

When  the  time  came  to  disband  the  army, 
Washington,  ready  as  he  was  to  go  back  to  his 
home,  could  not  forget  that  the  work  of  the  past 
seven  years  would  not  be  completed  until  the  peo- 
ple which  had  become  independent  was  united 
under  a  strong  government.  He  was  the  fore- 
most man  in  the  country  ;  he  was  also  profoundly 
aware  of  the  difficulties  through  which  the  people 
were  yet  to  pass,  and  he  addressed  a  long  letter  to 
the  governors  of  the  several  states.  Congress  was 
weak  and  unable  to  take  the  lead.  The  states 
were  each  provided  with  governments,  and  were 
the  real  powers,  but  Washington  saw  clearly  that 
it  would  not  do  to  have  thirteen  independent 
governments  in  the  country,  each  looking  only 
after  its  own  interests.  So  in  this  letter  he  tried 
to  show  the  states  the  importance  of  four  things  : 

1.  An  indissoluble  union  of  the  states  under 
one  head. 

2.  The  payment  of  all  the  debts  contracted  by 
the  country  in  the  war. 

3.  The  establishment  of  a  uniform  militia  sys- 
tem throughout  the  country.       He  did  not  advise 
having  a  standing  army,  but  he  thought  all  the 


WASHINGTON  RESIGNS  HIS  COMMISSION.     209 

men  should  be  drilled  in  their  neighborhoods, 
formed  into  companies,  and  be  ready  in  any  peril 
to  take  up  arms  again. 

4.  The  cultivation  of  a  spirit  of  confidence  be- 
tween different  parts  of  the  country.  He  had 
seen  so  much  jealousy  and  prejudice  that  he  knew 
how  dangerous  these  were  to  the  peace  of  the 
country. 

At  last  the  time  came  when  the  army  was  dis- 
banded. A  few  of  the  troops  only  and  their  offi- 
cers went  with  Washington  to  New  York  when 
the  British  left  the  city.  There  was  rejoicing 
everywhere  ;  but  it  was  a  sorrowful  moment  when 
Washington  took  leave  in  person  of  the  officers 
who  had  stood  by  him  through  the  long,  dreary 
years  of  the  war.  He  was  about  to  leave  the  city 
to  be  ferried  across  the  North  River  to  the  Jersey 
shore,  and  his  old  friends  gathered  to  say  good- 
by  at  Fraunce's  Tavern,  in  Broad  Street.  When 
he  entered  the  room  he  could  scarcely  command 
his  voice.  He  said  a  word  or  two,  and  they  all 
drank  a  farewell  toast,  as  the  custom  was  in  those 
days.  Then  Washington  said  :  "  I  cannot  come 
to  each  of  you  to  take  my  leave,  but  shall  be 
obliged  if  each  of  you  will  come  and  take  me  by 
the  hand." 

General  Knox  stood  nearest,  and  he  held  out 
his  hand.  The  tears  were  in  Washington's  eyes 
as  he  turned  to  his  old  comrade  and  grasped  his 


210  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

hand.  He  drew  the  strong  man  to  him  —  Rnox 
was  nearly  twenty  years  younger  than  Washing- 
ton, and  very  dear  to  him  —  and  kissed  him.  Not 
a  word  could  either  of  them  speak.  Another 
general  followed  and  another,  each  greeted  with 
the  same  affection  ;  and  then  Washington  left  the 
room,  passed  through  the  corps  of  infantry  which 
stood  on  guard,  and  walked  to  Whitehall,  followed 
by  the  whole  company,  a  silent  procession.  He 
entered  the  barge,  turned  as  the  boat  pushed  off, 
and  waved  his  hat  in  silent  adieu.  The  officers 
returned  the  salute  in  the  same  way,  and  then 
turned  and  in  silence  marched  back  to  Fraunce's. 

Washington  went  to  Philadelphia.  Congress 
was  in  session  at  Annapolis,  but  the  Treasury  was 
in  Philadelphia.  On  receiving  his  commission  as 
commander-in-chief,  Washington  had  announced 
that  he  would  receive  no  money  for  services,  but 
would  keep  an  exact  account  of  all  his  expenses. 
That  account  he  had  kept  as  carefully  and  scrupu- 
lously as  any  book-keeper  in  a  bank,  and  he  now 
rendered  it  to  the  comptroller  of  the  treasury. 
It  was  in  his  own  handwriting,  every  item  set 
down  and  explained.  I  know  of  few  incidents  in 
Washington's  career  which  show  the  character  of 
the  man  better  than  this.  He  held  that  a  sacred 
trust  had  been  reposed  in  him,  and  he  meant  to 
be  faithful  in  the  least  particular. 

On  December  23,  1783,  Congress  was  assem- 
bled at  Annapolis.  The  gallery  was  filled  with 


WASHINGTON  RESIGNS  HIS  COMMISSION.     211 

ladies.  The  governor,  council,  and  legislature  of 
Maryland,  several  officers,  and  the  consul-general 
of  France  were  on  the  floor.  The  members  of 
Congress  were  seated  and  wore  their  hats  to  sig- 
nify that  they  represented  the  government.  The 
spectators  stood  with  bare  heads.  General  Wash- 
ington entered  and  was  conducted  by  the  secretary 
of  Congress  to  a  seat.  When  all  was  quiet,  Gen- 
eral Mifflin,  who  was  then  president  of  Congress, 
turned  to  Washington  and  said :  "  The  United 
States,  in  Congress  assembled,  is  prepared  to  re- 
ceive the  communications  of  the  commander-in- 
chief." 

Washington  rose  and  read  a  short  address,  in 
which  he  resigned  his  commission.  He  delivered 
the  paper  into  the  hands  of  the  president,  who 
replied  with  a  little  speech ;  and  Washington  was 
now  a  private  citizen.  The  next  day  he  left 
Annapolis,  and  made  all  haste  to  return  to  his 
beloved  Mount  Vernon. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

MR.    WASHINGTON. 

IT  was  hard  for  Washington  at  first  to  forget 
that  he  was  no  longer  commander-in-chief.  He 
had  so  long  been  accustomed  to  wake  early,  and 
at  once  begin  to  think  of  the  cares  of  the  day, 
that  it  was  a  novel  sensation  to  discover  that  he 
had  no  cares  beyond  looking  after  his  estate.  It 
chanced  that  the  winter  of  1783-84  was  a  very 
severe  one.  The  roads  were  blocked  with  snow, 
the  streams  were  frozen,  and  Washington  found 
himself  almost  a  prisoner  at  Mount  Vernon.  He 
was  not  even  able  to  go  to  Fredericksburg  to  see 
his  mother,  until  the  middle  of  February.  He 
was  not  sorry  for  his  enforced  quiet.  It  left  him 
leisure  to  look  over  his  papers  and  enjoy  the  com- 
pany of  his  wife  and  his  wife's  grandchildren, 
whom  he  had  adopted  as  his  own  children-  His 
public  papers  had  been  put  into  the  hands  of 
Colonel  Richard  Varick,  in  1781,  and  they  were 
now  returned  to  him,  arranged  and  classified  and 
copied  into  volumes,  in  a  manner  to  delight  the 
methodical  soul  of  their  author. 

As  the  spring  came  on,  and  the  snow  and  ice 
melted,  the  roads  were  again  open,  and  Mount 


MR.  WASHINGTON.  213 

Vernon  was  soon  busy  with  its  old  hospitality. 
Washington  foresaw  that  he  would  have  plenty 
of  visitors,  but  he  did  not  mean  to  let  his  life  be 
at  the  mercy  of  everybody,  and  he  meant  to  keep 
up  his  regular  habits  and  his  plain  living.  "  My 
manner  of  living  is  plain,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend, 
"  and  I  do  not  mean  to  be  put  out  of  it.  A  glass 
of  wine  and  a  bit  of  mutton  are  always  ready, 
and  such  as  will  be  content  to  partake  of  them  are 
always  welcome.  Those  who  expect  more  will  be 
disappointed." 

The  house  at  Mount  Vernon  before  this  time 
had  been  very  much  like  that  in  which  Washing- 
ton was  born  ;  now  he  found  it  necessary  to  en- 
large it,  and  accordingly  added  an  extension  at 
each  end,  making  it  substantially  as  it  now  ap- 
pears. He  was  his  own  architect,  and  he  drew 
every  plan  and  specification  for  the  workmen  with 
his  own  hand.  He  amused  himself  also  with  lay- 
ing out  the  grounds  about  his  house,  and  plant- 
ing trees,  —  a  great  pleasure  to  him.  Every 
morning  he  arose  early,  and  dispatched  his  cor- 
respondence before  breakfast,  which  was  at  half- 
past  seven.  His  horse  stood  ready  at  the  door, 
and  as  soon  as  breakfast  was  over,  he  was  in  the 
saddle,  visiting  the  various  parts  of  his  estate. 
Sometimes  he  went  hunting,  for  he  never  lost  his 
fondness  for  the  chase.  He  dined  at  three  o'clock, 
and  usually  spent  the  afternoon  in  the  library, 
sometimes  working  at  his  papers  till  nine  o'clock ; 


214  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

but  when  not  pressed  by  business,  and  when  his 
house  was  full  of  guests,  he  spent  the  evening 
with  them.  If  he  was  alone  with  his  family,  he 
read  aloud  to  them  ;  and  very  often  on  Sundays, 
when  they  could  not  go  to  church,  he  read  aloud 
a  sermon  and  prayers. 

Guests  crowded  upon  him,  and  he  was  espe- 
cially glad  to  see  his  old  comrades.  A  visit  from 
La  Fayette  was  the  occasion  of  a  very  gay  time, 
when  Mount  Vernon  was  full  of  visitors,  and  the 
days  were  given  to  sport. 

Washington  had  constant  applications  from  per- 
sons who  wished  to  write  his  life  or  paint  his  por- 
trait. There  was  a  sculptor  named  Wright  who 
undertook  to  get  a  model  of  Washington's  face. 
"  Wright  came  to  Mount  Vernon,"  so  Washing- 
ton tells  the  story,  "  with  the  singular  request 
that  I  should  permit  him  to  take  a  model  of  my 
face,  in  plaster  of  Paris,  to  which  I  consented 
with  some  reluctance.  He  oiled  my  features,  and 
placing  me  flat  upon  my  back,  upon  a  cot,  pro- 
ceeded to  daub  my  face  with  the  plaster.  Whilst 
I  was  in  this  ludicrous  attitude,  Mrs.  Washington 
entered  the  room,  and  seeing  my  face  thus  over- 
spread with  plaster,  involuntarily  exclaimed.  Her 
cry  excited  in  me  a  disposition  to  smile,  which 
gave  my  mouth  a  slight  twist,  or  compression  of 
the  lips,  that  is  now  observable  in  the  busts  which 
Wright  afterward  made."  A  more  successful 
sculptor  was  Houdon.  who  was  commissioned  by 


MR.  WASHINGTON.  215 

Virginia  to  make  a  statue  of  Washington.  He 
also  took  a  plaster  model,  and  the  fine  statue 
which  he  made  stands  in  Richmond.  A  portrait 
painter,  named  Pine,  also  paid  a  visit  to  Mount 
Vernon  about  this  time  with  a  letter  from  one  of 
Washington's  friends  to  whom  Washington  wrote 
during  Pine's  visit :  — 

"  '  In  for  a  penny,  in  for  a  pound,'  is  an  old  adage. 
I  am  so  hackneyed  to  the  touches  of  the  painter's  pen- 
cil that  I  am  now  altogether  at  their  beck,  and  sit,  like 
'  patience  on  a  monument,'  whilst  they  are  delineating 
the  lines  of  my  face.  It  is  a  proof  among  many  others 
of  what  habit  and  custom  can  effect.  At  first  I  was 
as  impatient  at  the  request,  and  as  restive  under  the 
operation,  as  a  colt  is  of  the  saddle.  The  next  time  I 
submitted  very  reluctantly,  but  with  less  flouncing. 
Now  no  dray  moves  more  readily  to  the  thill  than  I  do 
to  the  painter's  chair.  It  may  easily  be  conceived, 
therefore,  that  I  yielded  a  ready  obedience  to  your  re- 
quest, and  to  the  views  of  Mr.  Pine." 

Washington  was  a  most  considerate  and  court- 
eous host.  He  was  very  fond  of  young  people, 
but  his  silent  ways  and  the  reputation  which  he 
enjoyed  as  a  great  man  made  it  difficult  for  the 
young  always  to  be  easy  in  his  presence.  The 
story  is  told  of  his  coming  into  a  room  once,  when 
dancing  was  going  on,  and  the  sport  suddenly 
ceased.  Washington  begged  the  young  people  to 
go  on,  but  they  refused  until  he  left  the  room. 
Then,  after  they  felt  free  again  to  dance,  he  came 
back  and  peeped  through  the  open  door. 


216  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

He  was  very  apt  to  affect  older  people  in  the 
same  way.  He  was  a  large  man,  with  large 
hands  and  feet,  and  eyes  that  looked  steadily  at 
one.  When  not  speaking  he  was  very  apt  to  for- 
get there  were  other  people  in  the  room,  and  his 
lips  would  move  as  he  talked  to  himself  while 
thinking  hard  upon  some  matter.  But  he  did 
not  neglect  people.  One  of  his  visitors  tells  this 
story  :  "  The  first  evening  I  spent  under  the  wing 
of  his  hospitality,  we  sat  a  full  hour  at  table,  by 
ourselves,  without  the  least  interruption,  after  the 
family  had  retired.  I  was  extremely  oppressed 
with  a  severe  cold  and  excessive  coughing,  con- 
tracted from  the  exposure  of  a  harsh  winter  jour- 
ney. He  pressed  me  to  use  some  remedies,  but  I 
declined  doing  so.  As  usual,  after  retiring,  my 
coughing  increased.  When  some  time  had 
elapsed,  the  door  of  my  room  was  gently  opened, 
and,  on  drawing  my  bed-curtains,  to  my  utter  as- 
tonishment I  beheld  Washington  himself  stand- 
ing at  my  bedside,  with  a  bowl  of  hot  tea  in  his 
hand.  I  was  mortified  and  distressed  beyond  ex- 
pression." 

Although  Washington  had  now  retired  to 
Mount  Vernon,  and  seemed  perfectly  willing  to 
spend  the  rest  of  his  days  as  a  country  gentleman, 
it  was  impossible  for  him  to  do  so.  The  leaders 
of  the  country  needed  him,  and  he  was  himself 
too  deeply  interested  in  affairs  to  shut  his  eyes 
and  ears.  He  was  especially  interested  in  the 


MR.   WASHINGTON.  217 

western  country,  which  then  meant  the  Ohio 
Valley  and  the  region  bordered  by  the  Great 
Lakes.  In  the  autumn  of  1784,  he  made  a  tour 
beyond  the  Alleghanies,  for  the  purpose  of  look- 
ing after  the  lands  which  he  owned  there  ;  but  he 
looked  about  him  not  only  as  a  land-owner,  but  as 
a  wise,  far-seeing  statesman. 

It  was  a  wild  journey  to  take  in  those  days. 
Washington  traveled  nearly  seven  hundred  miles 
on  horseback,  and  had  to  carry  camping  conven- 
iences and  many  of  his  supplies  on  pack-horses. 
He  had  especially  in  mind  to  see  if  there  might 
be  a  way  of  connecting  by  a  canal  the  water  sys- 
tem of  Virginia  with  the  Western  rivers.  After 
he  came  back,  he  wrote  a  long  letter  to  the  gov- 
ernor of  Virginia,  in  which  he  gave  the  result  of 
his  observation  and  reflection.  He  was  not  merely 
considering  how  a  profitable  enterprise  could  be 
undertaken,  but  he  was  thinking  how  necessary  it 
was  to  bind  the  western  country  to  the  eastern  in 
order  to  strengthen  the  Union.  Many  people  had 
crossed  the  mountains  and  were  scattered  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley.  They  found  the  Mississippi 
River  a  stream  easy  to  sail  down,  but  the  Span- 
iards held  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  if  the 
latter  chose  to  make  friends  with  those  western 
settlers,  they  might  easily  estrange  them  from  the 
eastern  states.  Besides  this,  Great  Britain  was 
reaching  down  toward  this  last  territory  from 
Canada.  In  every  way,  it  seemed  to  him  of  im- 


218  GEORGE  WASHINGTON, 

portance  that  good  roads  and  good  water  com- 
munication should  bind  the  East  and  the  West 
together.  He  thought  Virginia  was  the  state  to 
do  this.  It  extended  then  far  to  the  westward, 
and  it  had  great  rivers  flowing  to  the  sea.  It  was 
the  most  important  state  in  the  country,  and  it 
was  very  natural  that  Washington  should  look  to 
it  to  carry  out  his  grand  ideas ;  for  the  separate 
states  had  the  power  at  that  time  —  Congress  was 
unable  to  do  anything.  It  is  interesting  to  see 
how  Washington,  who  thought  he  could  go  back 
to  Mount  Vernon  and  be  a  planter,  was  unable  to 
keep  his  mind  from  working  upon  a  great  plan 
which  intended  the  advantage  of  a  vast  number 
of  people.  He  was  made  to  care  for  great  things, 
and  he  cared  for  them  naturally. 


CHAPTER  XXHI. 

CALLED   TO   THE   HELM. 

WHILE  Washington  was  busy  planting  trees  at 
Mount  Vernon  and  making  excursions  to  see  his 
western  lands,  the  country  was  like  a  vessel  which 
had  no  captain  or  pilot,  drifting  into  danger. 
During  the  War  for  Independence,  one  of  the 
greatest  difficulties  which  Washington  had  to 
overcome  was  the  unwillingness  of  the  several 
states  to  act  together  as  one  nation.  They  called 
themselves  the  United  States  of  America,  but  they 
were  very  loosely  united.  Congress  was  the  only 
body  that  held  them  together,  and  Congress  had 
no  power  to  make  the  states  do  what  they  did 
not  care  to  do.  So  long  as  they  all  were  fighting 
for  independence,  they  managed  to  hold  together  ; 
but  as  soon  as  the  war  was  over  and  the  states 
were  recognized  as  independent,  it  was  very  hard 
to  get  them  to  do  anything  as  one  nation.  Every 
state  was  looking  out  for  itself,  and  afraid  that 
the  others  might  gain  some  advantage  over  it. 

This  could  not  go  on  forever.  They  must  be 
either  wholly  independent  of  one  another  or  more 
closely  united.  The  difficulty  was  more  apparent 
where  two  states  were  neighbors.  Virginia  and 


220  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

Massachusetts  might  manage  to  live  apart,  though 
in  that  case  troubles  would  be  sure  to  arise,  but 
how  could  Virginia  and  Maryland  maintain  their 
individual  independence  ?  The  Chesapeake  and 
Potomac  seemed  to  belong  to  one  as  much  as  to 
the  other ;  and  when  foreign  vessels  came  up  the 
stream,  was  each  state  to  have  its  own  rules  and 
regulations  ?  No.  They  must  treat  strangers  at 
any  rate  in  some  way  that  would  not  make  each 
the  enemy  of  the  other. 

These  two  states  felt  this  so  strongly  that  they 
appointed  a  commission  to  consider  what  could 
be  done.  Washington  was  a  member  of  the  com- 
mission, and  asked  all  the  gentlemen  to  his  house. 
They  not  only  discussed  the  special  subject  com- 
mitted to  them,  but  they  looked  at  the  whole  mat- 
ter of  the  regulation  of  commerce  in  a  broad  way, 
and  agreed  to  propose  to  the  two  states  to  appoint 
other  commissioners,  who  should  advise  with  Con- 
gress and  ask  all  the  states  of  the  Union  to  send 
delegates  to  a  meeting  where  they  could  arrange 
some  system  by  which  all  the  states  should  act 
alike  in  their  treatment  of  foreign  nations  and  of 
each  other. 

That  was  exactly  what  Congress  ought  to  have 
been  able  to  do,  but  could  not,  because  nobody 
paid  any  attention  to  it.  Nor  did  this  meeting, 
which  was  called  at  Annapolis  in  September,  1786, 
accomplish  very  much.  Only  five  states  sent  del- 
egates, and  these  delegates  were  so  carefully  in- 


CALLED  TO  THE  HELM.  221 

structed  not  to  do  much,  that  it  was  impossible  for 
the  convention  to  settle  affairs.  Still,  it  was  a 
step  forward.  It  was  very  clear  to  the  delegates 
that  a  general  convention  of  all  the  states  was 
necessary,  and  so  they  advised  another  meeting  at 
which  all  the  thirteen  states  should  be  represented, 
and  the  whole  subject  of  the  better  union  of  the 
States  should  be  considered. 

This  meeting,  which  was  the  great  Constitu- 
tional Convention  of  1787,  was  held  in  Philadel- 
phia, and  to  it  Virginia  sent  George  Washington 
as  one  of  her  delegates.  He  was  heart  and  soul 
in  favor  of  the  movement.  It  was  what  he  had 
been  urging  on  all  his  correspondents  for  a  long 
time.  He  was  at  first  reluctant  to  go  back  into 
public  life  after  having  so  completely  retired ;  but 
as  soon  as  he  saw  that  it  was  his  duty  to  accept 
the  appointment,  he  set  to  work  to  qualify  himself 
for  taking  part  in  the  deliberations  of  the  conven- 
tion. Probably  no  one  in  America  understood 
better  than  he  the  character  of  Americans  and  the 
special  dangers  through  which  the  country  was 
passing  ;  but  several,  no  doubt,  were  better  in- 
formed about  the  practical  working  of  government 
and  about  the  history  of  other  confederations. 
He  had  never  been  very  much  of  a  reader  of 
books,  but  he  had  been  a  member  for  many  years 
of  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses,  and  so  knew 
how  government  was  carried  on  on  a  small  scale, 
and  now  he  began  to  read  diligently  and  to  com- 


222  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

pare  accounts  of  ancient  and  modern  political 
unions.  He  made  abstracts  of  them,  and,  in  fact, 
went  to  work  as  if  he  were  at  school,  so  in  earnest 
was  he  to  learn  this  important  lesson. 

On  May  9,  1787,  Washington  set  out  from 
Mount  Vernon  in  his  carriage  for  Philadelphia. 
He  was  a  famous  man  and  could  not  go  to  the 
convention  without  attracting  attention.  So,  when 
he  reached  Chester,  in  Pennsylvania,  he  was  met 
by  General  Mifflin,  who  was  then  Speaker  of  the 
Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  and  by  various  public 
men,  who  escorted  him  on  the  way.  At  the  ferry 
across  the  Schuylkill,  where  Gray's  Ferry  Bridge 
now  is,  he  was  met  by  a  company  of  light  horse, 
and  so  entered  the  city.  One  of  his  first  errands 
was  to  call  on  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  was  Presi- 
dent of  Pennsylvania,  as  the  governor  was  then 
called.  No  doubt  they  talked  long  and  earnestly 
about  the  work  before  them,  for  they  were  the 
two  most  eminent  men  in  the  convention. 

Washington  was  made  the  presiding  officer  of 
the  convention.  For  four  months  it  met  from  day 
to  day,  engaged  in  the  great  work  of  forming  the 
Constitution  under  which  we  are  now  governed. 
There  were  many  long  and  earnest  debates  ;  and 
the  members  felt  the  importance  of  the  work 
upon  which  they  were  engaged.  At  last,  the  Con- 
stitution was  formed.  It  was  not  satisfactory  to 
everybody,  but  the  members  all  agreed  to  sign  it, 
and  recommend  it  to  the  country  for  adoption. 


CALLED   TO  THE  HELM.  223 

George  Washington,  as  president  of  the  conven- 
tion, was  the  first  to  set  his  name  down ;  and  there 
is  a  tradition  that  as  he  took  the  pen  in  his  hand 
he  arose  from  his  seat,  considered  a  moment,  and 
then  said :  — 

"  Should  the  states  reject  this  excellent  Consti- 
tution, the  probability  is  that  an  opportunity  will 
never  again  be  offered  to  cancel  another  in  peace ; 
the  next  will  be  drawn  in  blood." 

Washington,  as  president  of  the  convention, 
was  directed  to  draw  up  a  letter,  stating  what  the 
convention  had  done,  and  send  it  with  the  Con- 
stitution to  Congress.  This  he  did.  He  was  not 
entirely  satisfied  with  the  Constitution,  as  he 
wrote  to  Patrick  Henry  :  "  I  wish  the  Constitution 
which  is  offered  had  been  more  perfect ;  but  I  sin- 
cerely believe  it  is  the  best  that  could  be  obtained 
at  this  time.  And,  as  a  constitutional  door  is 
opened  for  amendments  hereafter,  the  adoption  of 
it,  under  the  present  circumstances  of  the  Union, 
is,  in  my  opinion,  desirable." 

He  said  at  first  that  he  should  not  say  anything 
for  or  against  the  Constitution.  If  it  were  good, 
it  would  work  its  way  ;  if  bad,  it  would  recoil  on 
those  who  drew  it  up.  Perhaps  he  thought  it  was 
not  becoming  in  those  who  discussed  its  parts  and 
finally  signed  it,  to  do  anything  more  than  send  it 
out  and  leave  the  people  to  do  what  they  would 
with  it.  But  he  could  not  keep  silent  long. 
Everybody  was  debating  it;  the  principal  mem« 


224  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

bers  of  the  convention  were  defending  it ;  there 
was  danger  that  it  would  not  be  adopted,  and  soon 
Washington,  in  his  letters,  was  using  arguments 
in  support  of  it.  There  is  no  doubt  that  his  name 
at  the  head  of  the  paper  did  a  great  deal  toward 
inducing  people  to  accept  it.  It  was  more  than  a 
year  before  enough  states  had  adopted  the  Con- 
stitution to  make  it  the  law  of  the  land,  but  as 
time  went  on,  and  it  was  more  certain  that  the 
new  government  would  go  into  operation,  the 
question  arose  as  to  who  should  be  the  first  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  It  can  hardly  be 
called  a  question ;  at  any  rate,  it  was  answered  at 
once  by  all.  Every  one  named  Washington,  and 
his  friends  began  to  write  to  him  as  if  there  could 
be  no  doubt  on  this  point.  The  most  distinguished 
advocate  of  the  new  Constitution,  Alexander  Ham- 
ilton, who  had  been  one  of  Washington's  aids  in 
the  war,  wrote  to  him :  — 

"  I  take  it  for  granted,  sir,  you  have  concluded 
to  comply  with  what  will,  no  doubt,  be  the  general 
call  of  your  country  in  relation  to  the  new  govern- 
ment. You  will  permit  me  to  say  that  it  is  indis- 
pensable you  should  lend  yourself  to  its  first  oper- 
ations. It  is  to  little  purpose  to  have  introduced 
a  system,  if  the  weightiest  influence  is  not  given 
to  its  firm  establishment  in  the  outset." 

Washington  was  by  no  means  elated  at  the 
prospect.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  extremely  re- 
luctant to  be  president.  He  was  not  old ;  he  was 


CALLED  TO   THE  HELM.  225 

fifty-seven  years  of  age  when  the  election  took 
place,  but  his  hard  life  as  a  soldier  had  broken 
his  constitution,  and  the  cares  and  anxieties  he 
had  undergone  had  made  him  feel  old.  "  At  my 
time  of  life,"  he  wrote  to  La  Fayette,  u  and  under 
my  circumstances,  the  increasing  infirmities  of 
nature  and  the  growing  love  of  retirement  do  not 
permit  me  to  entertain  a  wish  beyond  that  of  liv- 
ing and  dying  an  honest  man  on  my  own  farm. 
Let  those  follow  the  pursuits  of  ambition  and 
fame  who  have  a  keener  relish  for  them,  or  who 
may  have  more  years  in  store  for  the  enjoyment." 
He  was  perfectly  sincere  in  saying  this.  He  knew 
that  some  people  would  not  believe  him,  and 
would  assert  that  he  was  only  saying  all  this  to 
get  the  credit  of  humility  ;  but  his  best  friends 
believed  him,  and  to  one  of  these  he  wrote  :  "  If 
I  should  receive  the  appointment,  and  if  I  should 
be  prevailed  upon  to  accept  it,  the  acceptance 
would  be  attended  with  more  diffidence  and  re- 
luctance than  ever  I  experienced  before  in  my  life. 
It  would  be,  however,  with  a  fixed  and  sole  deter- 
mination of  lending  whatever  assistance  might  be 
in  my  power  to  promote  the  public  weal,  in  hopes 
that,  at  a  convenient  and  early  period,  my  services 
might  be  dispensed  with,  and  that  I  might  be  per- 
mitted once  more  to  retire,  to  pass  an  unclouded 
evening,  after  the  stormy  day  of  life,  in  the  bosom 
of  domestic  tranquillity." 

There  never  was  any  doubt  about  the  people's 
choice.     Every  vote  was  cast  for  Washington. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

PRESIDENT    WASHINGTON. 

IT  was  on  April  16,  1789,  that  Washington 
left  Mount  Vernon  for  New  York,  where  Con- 
gress first  met,  and  where  he  was  to  be  inaugurated 
president.  The  country  all  along  the  route  was 
eager  to  see  him,  and  at  every  place  through  which 
he  passed  there  were  processions  and  triumphal 
arches  and  ringing  of  bells.  Some  of  the  signs 
of  welcome  were  queer,  and  some  were  beautiful 
and  touching.  When  he  crossed  the  Schuylkill, 
there  was  a  series  of  arches  under  which  he  was  to 
ride ;  and  when  he  came  to  the  first  one,  a  laurel 
wreath  was  let  down  upon  his  head.  The  people 
who  arranged  that  exhibition  must  have  been  very 
anxious  as  to  how  it  would  turn  out.  At  Trenton, 
where  everybody  remembered  the  famous  battle 
he  had  fought,  the  women  had  put  up  a  great 
triumphal  arch  resting  upon  thirteen  columns, 
with  a  great  dome  crowned  by  a  sunflower ;  then, 
as  he  rode  through,  he  came  upon  a  company  of 
women  and  girls  who  marched  toward  him,  strew- 
ing flowers  and  singing.  When  he  reached  New 
York,  guns  were  fired ;  and  a  vast  crowd  of  peo- 
ple, headed  by  the  governor,  was  waiting  to  re- 
ceive him. 


PRESIDENT  WASHINGTON.  227 

Congress  had  begun  its  sessions  at  Federal  Hall, 
which  stood  where  the  present  Treasury  building 
stands  in  Wall  Street.  The  day  set  for  the  inaugu- 
ration was  April  30.  Precisely  at  noon,  the  pro- 
cession moved  from  the  house  where  Washington 
was  lodged,  through  what  is  now  Pearl  Street  and 
Broad  Street,  to  the  Hall.  Washington  entered 
the  Senate  chamber,  where  John  Adams,  who  was 
vice-president  and  therefore  presiding  over  the 
Senate,  received  him  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate 
and  House,  and  then  escorted  him  to  a  balcony 
at  the  front  of  the  hall.  A  crimson-covered  table 
stood  on  it,  holding  a  large  Bible.  Below,  Broad 
Street  and  Wall  Street  were  packed  with  people, 
as  were  also  the  windows  and  the  roofs  of  the 
houses  near  by.  They  set  up  a  great  shout  as 
Washington  appeared.  He  came  to  the  front, 
laid  his  hand  on  his  heart,  and  bowed  to  the 
people. 

The  multitude  could  see  the  commanding  fig- 
ure of  the  great  general  as  he  stood  bareheaded 
on  the  balcony.  He  was  dressed  in  a  suit  of 
brown  cloth  of  American  manufacture,  with  knee- 
breeches  and  white  silk  stockings  and  silver  shoe- 
buckles.  His  hair  was  dressed  and  powdered,  as 
was  the  custom  then.  They  saw  near  him  John 
Adams  and  Robert  R.  Livingston,  the  chancellor 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  distinguished  men 
—  generals  and  others  ;  but  their  eyes  were  bent 
on  Washington.  They  saw  Chancellor  Livingston 


228  GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

stand  as  if  speaking  to  him,  and  the  secretary  of 
the  Senate  holding  the  open  Bible,  on  which  Wash- 
ington's hand  lay.  Those  nearest  could  hear  the 
chancellor  pronounce  the  oath  of  office  and  Wash- 
ington's reply,  "  I  swear  —  so  help  me,  God !  " 
and  could  see  him  bow  and  kiss  the  Bible. 

Then  the  chancellor  stepped  forward,  waved  his 
hand,  and  said  aloud  :  "  Long  live  George  Wash- 
ington, President  of  the  United  States."  At  the 
same  time,  a  flag,  as  a  signal,  was  run  up  on  the 
cupola  of  the  Hall.  Instantly  cannon  were  fired, 
bells  rung,  and  the  people  shouted.  Washington 
saluted  them,  and  then  turned  back  into  the 
Senate  chamber,  where  he  read  his  inaugural  ad- 
dress, in  a  low  voice,  for  he  was  evidently  deeply 
affected,  —  great  occasions  always  solemnized  him, 
—  and  after  the  address,  he  went  on  foot,  with 
many  others,  to  St.  Paul's  Church,  where  prayers 
were  read  by  Dr.  Provoost,  Bishop  of  the  Episco- 
pal Church,  and  one  of  the  chaplains  of  Congress. 
At  night,  there  were  fireworks  and  bonfires. 

Thus,  with  the  good-will  of  the  people  and  the 
confidence  of  all  the  sections,  —  however  suspicious 
they  might  be  of  one  another,  —  Washington  be- 
gan his  career  as  president.  For  eight  years  he  re- 
mained in  office.  His  character  was  now  so  fixed 
that  there  is  little  new  to  be  learned  about  it 
from  that  time  forward  ;  but  there  were  many 
events  that  made  more  clear  how  wise,  how  just, 
how  honorable,  and  how  faithful  to  his  trust  he 


PRESIDENT  WASHINGTON.        229 

was.  He  had  been  very  loath  to  take  upon  him- 
self the  duties  of  president,  but  when  once  he  had 
been  placed  in  the  chair,  he  let  nothing  stand  in 
the  way  of  the  most  thorough  discharge  of  his 
duties. 

Now  came  into  play  all  those  habits  which  he 
had  been  forming  from  boyhood.  As  president 
of  the  whole  people,  it  was  his  business  to  have  an 
oversight  of  all  the  interests  of  the  young  nation, 
and,  as  the  first  president,  he  had  the  opportunity 
of  setting  an  example  to  those  who  were  to  come 
after  him.  It  is  one  of  the  most  excellent  gifts 
to  the  American  people  that  they  should  have  had 
for  their  first  president  a  man  so  well  rounded 
and  so  magnanimous  as  George  ;  Washington. 
There  were  as  yet  no  political  parties,  though 
there  were  the  seeds  of  parties  in  the  opposite 
ways  in  which  public  men  regarded  the  new  Con- 
stitution. Washington  called  to  his  cabinet  men 
who  disliked  one  another,  and  who  were  really  as 
much  opposed  to  one  another  as  if  they  belonged 
to  antagonistic  parties;  but  they  never  could 
draw  Washington  away  from  a  strict  impartiality. 
He  made  Thomas  Jefferson  secretary  of  state, 
because  he  was  most  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
foreign  affairs  ;  and  he  made  Alexander  Hamilton 
secretary  of  the  treasury,  because  he  had  shown 
himself  the  most  competent  man  to  plan  a  way 
out  of  the  greatest  peril  which  beset  the  young 
nation.  But  Jefferson  and  Hamilton  cordially 


230  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

disliked  each  other,  and  were  decidedly  of  opposite 
ways  of  thinking. 

Washington,  however,  did  not  rest  contented 
with  choosing  the  best  men  to  carry  on  the  gov- 
ernment. In  those  days,  when  the  country  had 
only  a  small  population,  a  small  area,  and  a  small 
business,  it  was  possible  for  one  man  to  know  very 
much  more  fully  the  details  of  government  than  it 
is  now.  His  lifelong  habits  of  methodical  indus- 
try enabled  Washington  to  get  through  an  amount 
of  work  which  seems  extraordinary.  For  exam- 
ple, he  read  from  beginning  to  end  all  the  letters 
which  had  passed  between  Congress  and  foreign 
governments  since  the  treaty  of  peace  in  1783, 
making  abstracts  and  briefs  of  them,  so  as  to 
know  thoroughly  the  whole  history  of  the  rela- 
tions of  the  country  to  foreign  governments.  He 
required  from  every  head  of  department  whom 
he  found  in  office  a  report  of  the  state  of  public 
business.  He  treated  these  reports  as  he  had  the 
foreign  correspondence,  and  in  this  way  he  mas- 
tered all  the  internal  affairs  of  the  nation.  The 
result  was  that  he  had  his  own  judgment  about 
any  matter  of  importance  which  came  up,  and 
was  not  obliged  to  follow  the  lead  of  the  cabinet 
officers. 

There  were,  of  course,  only  a  few  public  offices 
to  be  filled  then,  and  it  was  quite  possible  for 
Washington  to  know  personally  most  of  the  men 
who  should  be  appointed  to  fill  them.  He  thought 


PRESIDENT  WASHINGTON.        231 

this  one  of  the  most  important  parts  of  his  work 
as  president ;  because  he  knew  well  that  it  is  not 
rules  and  regulations,  but  men,  that  carry  on  any 
government  or  any  business,  and  that,  if  he  could 
put  honest  and  capable  men,  who  were  unselfishly 
devoted  to  the  country,  into  all  the  offices,  he 
would  secure  a  wise  administration  of  the  laws. 
From  the  first,  he  began  to  be  besieged  by  appli- 
cants for  office,  and  he  made  immediately  the  very 
sensible  rule  that  he  would  not  give  any  pledge 
or  encouragement  to  any  applicant.  He  heard 
what  they  and  their  friends  had  to  say,  and  then 
made  up  his  mind  deliberately.  He  had,  however, 
certain  principles  in  his  mind  which  governed  him 
in  making  appointments,  and  they  were  so  high 
and  honorable,  and  show  so  well  the  character  of 
the  man,  that  I  copy  here  what  he  had  said  with 
regard  to  the  matter  :  — 

"  Scarcely  a  day  passes  in  which  applications  of  one 
kind  or  another  do  not  arrive  ;  insomuch  that,  had  I 
not  early  adopted  some  general  principles,  I  should  be- 
fore this  time  have  been  wholly  occupied  in  this  business. 
As  it  is,  I  have  found  the  number  of  answers,  which  I 
have  been  necessitated  to  give  in  my  own  hand,  an  al- 
most insupportable  burden  to  me.  The  points  in  which 
all  these  answers  have  agreed  in  substance  are,  that, 
should  it  be  my  lot  to  go  again  into  public  office,  I 
would  go  without  being  under  any  possible  engage- 
ments of  any  nature  whatsoever ;  that,  so  far  as  I  knew 
my  own  heart,  I  would  not  be  in  the  remotest  degree 


232  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

influenced  in  making  nominations  by  motives  arising 
from  the  ties  of  family  or  blood  ;  and  that,  on  the  other 
hand,  three  things,  in  my  opinion,  ought  principally  to 
be  regarded,  namely :  the  fitness  of  characters  to  fill 
offices,  the  comparative  claims  from  the  former  merits 
and  sufferings  in  service  of  the  different  candidates, 
and  the  distribution  of  appointments  in  as  equal  a  pro- 
portion as  might  be  to  persons  belonging  to  the  differ- 
ent States  in  the  Union.  Without  precautions  of  this 
kind,  I  clearly  foresaw  the  endless  jealousies  and  pos- 
sibly the  fatal  consequences  to  which  a  government, 
depending  altogether  on  the  good-will  of  the  people  for 
its  establishment,  would  certainly  be  exposed  in  its 
early  stages.  Besides,  I  thought,  whatever  the  effect 
might  be  in  pleasing  or  displeasing  any  individuals  at 
the  present  moment,  a  due  concern  for  my  own  reputa- 
tion, not  less  decisively  than  a  sacred  regard  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  community,  required  that  I  should  hold 
myself  absolutely  at  liberty  to  act,  while  in  office,  with 
a  sole  reference  to  justice  and  the  public  good." 

To  protect  himself  from  being  at  everybody's 
call,  and  so  unable  to  be  of  the  greatest  service, 
he  established  certain  rules.  Every  Tuesday,  be- 
tween the  hours  of  three  and  four,  he  received 
whoever  might  come.  Every  Friday  afternoon 
Mrs.  Washington  received  with  him.  At  all 
other  times,  he  could  be  seen  only  by  special  ap- 
pointment. He  never  accepted  invitations  to  din- 
ner, and  that  has  been  the  rule  of  presidents  ever 
since  ;  but  he  invited  constantly  to  his  own  table 
foreign  ministers,  members  of  the  government, 


PRESIDENT  WASHINGTON.  233 

and  other  guests.  He  received  no  visits  on  Sun- 
day. He  went  to  church  with  his  family  in  the 
morning,  and  spent  the  afternoon  by  himself. 
The  evening  he  spent  with  his  family  and  some- 
times had  with  him  an  intimate  friend. 

He  still  kept  up  his  old  habit  of  rising  at  four 
and  going  to  bed  at  nine.  Mrs.  Washington  had 
a  grave  little  formula  with  which  she  used  to  dis- 
miss visitors  in  the  evening  :  — 

"  The  General  always  retires  at  nine  o'clock, 
and  I  usually  precede  him." 

His  recreation  he  took  chiefly  in  driving  and 
riding.  He  never  lost  his  liking  for  a  good  horse, 
and  he  knew  what  a  good  horse  was.  He  had  a 
servant  who  had  been  General  Braddock's  sen 
vant,  and  had  been  with  Washington  ever  since 
the  battle  of  the  Monongahela.  Bishop,  as  he 
was  named,  was  a  terrible  disciplinarian,  and  de- 
voted to  his  master's  interests.  At  sunrise  every 
day  he  would  go  to  the  stables,  where  the  boys 
had  been  at  work  since  dawn  grooming  the  gen- 
eral's horses.  Woe  to  them  if  they  had  been 
careless !  Bishop  marched  in  with  a  muslin 
handkerchief  in  his  hand  and  passed  it  over  the 
coats  of  the  horses  ;  if  a  single  stain  appeared  on 
the  muslin,  the  boy  who  groomed  the  horse  had 
to  take  a  thrashing.  It  was  no  light  matter  to 
groom  a  horse  in  those  days,  for,  just  as  the  heada 
of  gentlemen  were  plastered  and  bewigged,  so  the 
horses  were  made  to  undergo  what  would  seem  to 


234  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

us  now  a  rather  absurd  practice.  The  night  be- 
fore a  horse  was  to  be  ridden,  he  was  covered  from 
head  to  foot  with  a  paste  made  of  whiting  and 
other  ingredients  ;  then  he  was  well  wrapped  in 
cloth  and  laid  to  sleep  on  clean  straw.  By  the 
next  morning  the  paste  had  hardened,  and  it  was 
then  vigorously  rubbed  in,  and  the  horse  curried 
and  brushed.  The  result  was  a  glossy  and  satiny 
coat.  The  hoofs  were  blackened  and  polished, 
the  mouth  washed,  the  teeth  picked  and  cleaned, 
and  the  horse  was  then  ready  to  be  saddled  and 
brought  out. 

Mrs.  Washington  was  a  domestic,  home-loving 
body,  but  a  lady  of  great  dignity  and  sweetness 
of  disposition,  who  moved  serenely  by  the  side  of 
her  husband,  receiving  his  guests  in  the  same 
spirit.  She  never  talked  about  politics,  but  was 
evenly  courteous  to  every  one.  She  was  like  her 
husband,  too,  in  her  exactness  and  her  attention 
to  little  details  of  economy.  While  she  was  in 
the  midst  of  her  duties  as  president's  wife,  she 
wrote  to  one  of  her  family  :  "  I  live  a  very  dull 
life  here,  and  know  nothing  that  passes  in  the 
town.  I  never  go  to  any  public  place  ;  indeed,  I 
think  I  am  more  like  a  state  prisoner  than  any- 
thing else.  There  are  certain  bounds  set  for  me 
which  I  must  not  depart  from ;  and,  as  I  cannot 
do  as  I  like,  I  am  obstinate  and  stay  at  home  a 
great  deal."  But  her  real  heart  was  at  Mount 
Vernon  and  in  her  household  affairs.  "  I  send  to 


PRESIDENT  WASHINGTON.  235 

dear  Maria,"  she  writes,  "  A  piece  of  chene  to 
make  her  a  frock,  and  a  piece  of  muslin,  which  I 
hope  is  long  enough  for  an  apron  for  you.  In  ex- 
change for  it,  I  beg  you  will  give  me  a  worked 
muslin  apron  you  have,  like  my  gown  that  I  made 
just  before  I  left  home,  of  worked  muslin,  as  I 
wish  to  make  a  petticoat  to  my  gown,  of  the  two 
aprons." 

Washington  himself  never  lost  sight  of  Mount 
Vernon.  Just  as  in  his  absence,  during  the  war, 
he  required  weekly  reports  from  the  manager  of 
his  plantation,  so  now  he  kept  up  the  same  prac- 
tice. Occasionally,  when  Congress  was  not  in 
session,  he  could  go  home,  but  his  visits  were 
short  and  rare.  It  may  seem  strange  to  some 
that  a  soldier  and  a  statesman  like  Washington 
should  be  also  an  ardent  farmer  ;  but  that  he  was. 
I  suppose  the  one  occupation  that  Washington 
loved  was  farming ;  in  his  earlier  life  there  is  no 
doubt  that  he  cared  most  for  a  soldier's  fortune, 
but  after  he  was  fairly  in  possession  of  Mount 
Vernon,  the  care  of  that  place  became  his  passion, 
and  for  the  rest  of  his  life  he  was  first  and  last  a 
farmer.  For  my  part,  I  like  to  think  of  Wash- 
ington in  this  way,  for  the  one  indispensable  art  is 
the  art  of  agriculture ;  all  other  arts  are  built  upon 
it,  and  the  man  who  has  a  piece  of  land,  and  can 
raise  from  it  enough  to  feed  and  clothe  and  shel- 
ter himself  and  his  family,  is  the  most  indepen- 
dent of  men,  and  has  a  real  place  on  the  earth 
which  he  can  call  his  own. 


236  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

During  his  presidency,  Washington  made  two 
tours  through  the  country,  —  one  into  the  East- 
ern and  one  into  the  Southern  States.  He  was 
received  with  special  honor  in  New  England,  for 
he  was  less  familiarly  known  to  the  people  there, 
and  they  made  a  great  holiday  in  every  town 
through  which  the  president  passed.  By  these 
tours,  he  made  himself  acquainted  with  the  needs 
of  the  country  and  with  the  persons  who  were  the 
leaders  of  the  people. 

But  there  were  parts  which  he  could  not  visit, 
yet  in  which  he  felt  the  deepest  interest  and  con- 
cern. We  have  seen  how,  from  time  to  time,  he 
visited  the  country  beyond  the  Alleghanies,  and 
how  much  importance  he  attached  to  the  settle- 
ment of  the  West.  The  greatest  difficulty  in  the 
early  days  was  through  the  relations  which  the 
people  had  with  the  Indians.  Washington  knew 
the  Indians  well ;  he  knew  how  to  get  along  with 
them,  and  he  knew  also  what  dangerous  enemies 
they  were.  At  the  end  of  his  first  term  as  presi- 
dent, it  became  necessary  to  send  a  military  expe- 
dition to  the  frontiers,  and  General  St.  Clair  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  it.  When  he  came  to  bid 
Washington  good-by,  his  old  chief  gave  him  a 
sqleinn  warning :  "  You  have  your  instructions 
from  the  secretary  of  war.  I  had  a  strict  eye  to 
them,  and  will  add  but  one  word  :  Beware  of  a 
surprise  !  You  know  how  the  Indians  fight.  I 
repeat  it  —  beware  of  a  surprise  I  " 


PRESIDENT  WASHINGTON.  237 

But  St.  Clair  was  surprised  and  terribly  de- 
feated. It  was  a  bitter  disappointment  to  Wash- 
ington, who  received  the  news  of  the  disaster  one 
December  day  when  he  was  at  dinner.  His  pri- 
vate secretary,  Mr.  Lear,  was  called  out  of  the 
room  by  a  servant,  who  said  there  was  a  messen- 
ger without  who  insisted  bn  seeing  the  president. 
Mr.  Lear  went  to  him  and  found  that  he  was  an 
officer  from  St.  Glair's  army  with  despatches  which 
he  refused  to  give  to  any  one  but  President  Wash- 
ington. Mr.  Lear  went  back  to  the  dining-room 
and  whispered  this  to  Washington,  who  excused 
himself  to  the  company  and  went  out  to  hear  the 
officer's  news.  He  came  back  shortly  after  and 
resumed  his  place  at  the  table,  but  without  ex- 
plaining the  reason  of  his  absence.  He  was,  how- 
ever, absorbed,  as  he  often  was,  and  muttered  to 
himself ;  and  one  of  his  neighbors  caught  the 
words,  "  I  knew  it  would  be  so  !  " 

It  was  an  evening  when  Mrs.  Washington  was 
holding  a  reception,  and  the  gentlemen,  when 
leaving  the  dining-room,  went  directly  into  the 
drawing-room.  Washington  went  with  them.  He 
was  calm  and  showed  no  signs  of  disturbance.  He 
spoke  as  usual  to  every  one,  and  at  last  the  guests 
had  gone.  Mrs.  Washington  also  retired,  and  the 
General  was  left  alone  with  his  secretary.  He  was 
silent  at  first,  walking  to  and  fro  in  the  room. 
Then  he  took  a  seat  by  the  fire,  and  motioned 
Mr.  Lear  to  sit  by  him.  He  could  no  longer  con- 


238  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

tain  himself ;  he  must  have  some  relief,  and  sud- 
denly he  burst  out :  "  It 's  all  over  !  St.  Clair  's 
defeated !  routed !  The  officers  nearly  all  killed  ; 
the  men  by  wholesale ;  the  rout  complete  —  too 
shocking  to  think  of,  and  a  surprise  into  the  bar- 
gain !  "  He  jerked  out  the  sentences  as  if  he  were 
in  pain.  He  got  up  and  walked  up  and  down 
again  like  a  caged  lion,  stood  still,  and  once  more 
burst  out  in  passionate  speech:  "Yes,  here,  on 
this  very  spot  I  took  leave  of  him  ;  I  wished  him 
success  and  honor.  *  You  have  your  instructions 
from  the  secretary  of  war,'  said  I.  '  I  had  a  strict 
eye  to  them,  and  will  add  but  one  word  :  BEWARE 
OF  A  SURPRISE  !  You  know  how  the  Indians 
fight ;  I  repeat  it  —  BEWARE  OF  A  SURPRISE  ! ' 
He  went  off  with  that,  my  last  warning,  thrown 
into  his  ears.  And  yet !  —  To  suffer  that  army 
to  be  cut  to  pieces,  butchered,  tomahawked,  by  a 
surprise  —  the  very  thing  I  guarded  him  against !  '* 

—  and  the  strong  man  threw  up  his  hands  while 
he    shook  with  terrible  emotion :    "  He 's  worse 
than  a  murderer !     How  can  he  answer  f cr  it  to 
his  country  !     The  blood  of  the  slain  is  upon  him 

—  the  curse  of  widows  and  orphans  —  the  curse 
of  Heaven !  " 

Mr.  Lear  was  dumb.  He  had  never  seen  or 
heard  Washington  like  this.  It  was  a  pent-up 
volcano  bursting  forth.  Washington  himself  re- 
covered his  control.  He  sat  down  again.  He  was 
silent.  He  felt,  as  a  strong  man  does  who  has  for 


PRESIDENT  WASHINGTON.  239 

a  moment  broken  the  bounds  of  restraint,  a  noble 
shame,  not  at  his  indignation,  but  at  'having  for 
a  moment  thus  given  way.  "  This  must  not  go 
beyond  this  room,"  he  said  presently,  in  a  quiet, 
almost  whispered  tone.  Then  he  added,  after  a 
pause  :  "  General  St.  Clair  shall  have  justice.  I 
looked  hastily  through  the  despatches ;  saw  the 
whole  disaster,  but  not  all  the  particulars.  I  will 
receive  him  without  displeasure ;  I  will  hear  him 
without  prejudice  ;  he  shall  have  full  justice." 

Washington  kept  his  word.  Perhaps  all  the 
more  for  this  outbreak,  he  determined  that  St. 
Clair  should  be  treated  with  scrupulous  justice. 
But  the  incident  illustrates  the  character  of  Wash- 
ington. Deep  down  in  his  nature  was  a  passionate 
regard  for  law,  for  obedience,  for  strict  account- 
ability. It  was  this  which  made  him  in  minor 
matters  so  punctual,  so  orderly,  so  precise  in  his 
accounts  ;  in  larger  matters,  it  made  him  unself- 
ishly and  wholly  consecrated  to  the  country  which 
trusted  him,  just  in  all  his  dealings,  and  the  soul 
of  honor.  This  consuming  passion  for  law  made 
him  govern  himself,  keep  in  restraint  the  fierce 
wrath  which  leaped  up  within  him,  and  measure 
his  acts  and  words  with  an  iron  will.  The  two 
notable  scenes  when  his  anger  blazed  out  and 
burned  up  his  self-control  as  if  it  were  a  casing 
of  straw  were  caused  by  Lee's  faithlessness  at 
Monmouth  and  St.  Glair's  carelessness.  On  each 
of  these  occasions,  it  was  not  an  offense  against 


240  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

himself  which  woke  his  terrible  wrath  ;  it  was  an 
offense  against  the  country,  against  God ;  for  in 
the  moment  of  his  anger  he  saw  each  of  these 
two  men  false  to  the  trust  reposed  in  him. 

Yet  the  difficulties  with  the  Indians  were  as 
nothing  to  the  perils  which  beset  the  country  in 
its  intercourse  with  Europe.  At  that  time,  the 
United  States  was  almost  a  part  of  Europe.  All 
its  business  was  with  France  and  England.  It  had 
declared  and  achieved  political  independence,  but 
was  nevertheless  connected  by  a  thousand  ties  of 
commerce,  law,  and  custom  with  the  Old  World. 
The  fierce  revolution  in  France  was  in  part  set  in 
flame  by  the  example  of  America ;  and  when  war 
broke  out  between  England  and  France,  there  was 
scarcely  a  man  in  America  who  did  not  take  sides 
in  his  mind  with  one  country  or  the  other.  There 
was  the  greatest  possible  danger  that  the  country 
would  be  drawn  into  the  quarrels  of  Europe. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  commotions,  when  the 
very  members  of  his  cabinet  were  acting  and 
speaking  as  if  they  were  the  servants  either  of 
England  or  of  France,  Washington  maintained 
his  impartiality,  and  saw  to  it  that  the  United 
States  was  kept  out  of  European  disputes.  What 
was  the  result  ?  He  saved  the  country  from  fear- 
ful disaster  ;  for  he  was  like  the  pilot  that  conducts 
the  ship  through  rapids  and  past  dangerous  reefs. 
But  he  himself  suffered  incredible  contumely  and 
reviling  from  the  hot-headed  partisans  who  were 


PRESIDENT  WASHINGTON.  241 

ready  to  plunge  the  country  into  the  dispute.  "  If 
ever  a  nation,"  said  one  newspaper,  "  was  de- 
bauched by  a  man,  the  American  nation  has  been 
debauched  by  Washington.  If  ever  a  nation  was 
deceived  by  a  man,  the  American  nation  has  been 
deceived  by  Washington.  Let  his  conduct,  then, 
be  an  example  to  future  ages  ;  let  it  serve  to  be  a 
warning  that  no  man  may  be  an  idol ;  let  the  his- 
tory of  the  federal  government  instruct  mankind 
that  the  mask  of  patriotism  may  be  worn  to  con- 
ceal the  foulest  designs  against  the  liberties  of  the 
people."  That  is  the  way  some  people  wrote  about 
Washington  when  he  was  president. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  FAREWELL. 

WHEN  Washington  had  completed  his  two 
terms  of  office,  he  was  unalterably  fixed  in  his 
resolution  to  go  back  to  private  life.  The  reasons 
which  had  induced  him  to  accept  the  presidency 
against  his  inclination  were  no  longer  forcible. 
The  government  was  established.  The  country 
was  on  the  road  to  prosperity.  No  one  man  any 
longer  had  it  in  his  power  greatly  to  help  or  greatly 
to  hurt  the  people.  Moreover  he  was  weary  of 
public  life.  He  was  tired  of  standing  up  and  being 
pelted  with  mud  by  all  sorts  of  obscure  people  ;  of 
having  his  motives  misconstrued  ;  of  listening  to 
the  endless  bickerings  of  public  men  about  him. 
For  more  than  twenty  years  he  had  really  been  at 
the  head  of  the  nation.  Now  he  meant  to  go  back 
to  his  farm  ;  but  before  he  went,  he  had  it  in  him 
to  say  one  word  to  his  countrymen. 

That  Washington  should  write  his  famous 
"  Farewell  Address  to  the  People  of  the  United 
States"  indicates  how  accurately  he  understood 
his  position.  He  was  a  great  man,  a  splendid 
figure  in  history,  and  he  knew  it.  But  he  was  too 
great  to  be  vain  of  his  distinction.  He  was  pot 


THE  FAREWELL.  243 

too  great  to  use  even  his  distinction  for  the  ben- 
efit of  his  country.  He  knew  perfectly  well  that 
any  speech  which  he  might  make  when  he  retired 
from  office  would  be  listened  to  as  almost  no  other 
political  paper  was  ever  listened  to  by  a  people, 
and  he  determined  to  gather  into  his  "  Farewell 
Address"  the  weightiest  judgment  which  he  could 
pronounce,  as  summing  up  the  result  of  his  long 
study  and  observation  of  public  affairs.  He  wrote, 
of  course,  with  a  special  eye  to  the  needs  of  the 
people  who  were  immediately  to  hear  and  read  the 
address.  They  had  dangers  about  them  which 
have  since  largely  disappeared ;  for  example,  we 
do  not  especially  need  to-day  the  caution  which 
the  men  of  that  day  needed  when  Washington 
wrote :  "  A  passionate  attachment  of  one  nation 
for  another  produces  a  variety  of  evils." 

Nevertheless,  the  address  is  so  full  of  sound 
political  wisdom  that  I  wish  it  might  be  read  in 
every  public  school  in  the  land  on  the  22d  day 
of  February.  In  it  the  large-minded  Washington 
speaks,  thinking  of  the  whole  country,  and  pour- 
ing into  his  words  the  ripe  and  full  judgment  of 
a  man  whose  one  thought  in  his  life  had  been  to 
serve  his  country  faithfully. 

The  observance  of  Washington's  birthday  began 
in  a  quiet  way  during  Washington's  lifetime.  As 
early  as  1783,  when  the  war  was  over,  but  before 
the  treaty  of  peace  was  signed,  some  gentlemen 
met  together  to  celebrate  it,  and  during  his  presi- 


244  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

dency,  the  day  was  observed  by  members  of  Con- 
gress and  others  who  paid  their  respects  to  him, 
and  the  observance  of  the  day  became  more  and 
more  general,  especially  after  Washington's  death. 
The  day  before  he  was  to  leave  office,  Wash- 
ington gave  a  farewell  dinner  to  the  Foreign  Min- 
isters and  their  wives,  and  eminent  public  men, 
including  the  new  President,  John  Adams.  The 
company  was  in  excellent  spirits,  until  Washing- 
ton raised  his  glass  to  wish  them  all  good  health, 
after  the  fashion  of  those  days.  He  smiled  and 
said :  "  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  this  is  the  last  time 
I  shall  drink  your  health  as  a  public  man  ;  I  do  it 
with  sincerity,  wishing  you  all  possible  happiness." 
Perhaps  he  was  thinking  at  the  moment  of  his 
own  happiness  in  going  back  to  private  life  ;  but 
it  suddenly  rushed  over  the  minds  of  those  present 
what  such  a  toast  meant,  and  all  mirth  was  gone. 
The  next  day  he  attended  the  ceremonies  of  the 
inauguration  of  John  Adams.  As  he  moved  toward 
the  door  to  retire,  there  was  a  rush  of  the  people 
toward  him.  They  cheered  and  cheered  as  he 
passed  into  the  street.  He  answered,  smiling  and 
waving  his  hat,  his  gray  hairs  blown  by  the  wind. 
The  people  followed  him  to  the  door  of  his  house. 
He  turned,  as  he  entered,  and  looked  on  them. 
Now  it  was  his  place  to  feel  the  pain  of  parting. 
After  all,  he  was  going  away  from  those  busy 
haunts  where  he  was  sure  to  see  men  who  honored 
and  loved  him.  Tears  stood  in  his  eyes ;  his  face 


THE  FAREWELL.  245 

was  pale  and  grave ;  he  raised  his  hand,  but  he 
could  not  trust  himself  to  speak. 

He  was  once  more  at  Mount  Vernon,  in  the 
quiet  of  his  home,  and  again  the  days  went  by  in 
that  regular  routine  which  suited  him.  Here  is  a 
letter  which  he  wrote  to  James  McHenry,  the 
secretary  of  war  :  — 

"  I  am  indebted  to  you  for  several  unacknowledged 
letters  ;  but  never  mind  that ;  go  on  as  if  you  had  an- 
swers. You  are  at  the  source  of  information,  and  can 
find  many  things  to  relate  ;  while  I  have  nothing  to  say 
that  could  either  inform  or  amuse  a  secretary  of  war 
in  Philadelphia.  I  might  tell  him  that  I  begin  my 
diurnal  course  with  the  sun  ;  that,  if  my  hirelings  are 
not  in  their  places  at  that  time  I  send  them  messages  of 
sorrow  for  their  indisposition  ;  that,  having  put  these 
wheels  in  motion,  I  examine  the  state  of  things  further  ; 
that,  the  more  they  are  probed,  the  deeper  I  find  the 
wounds  which  my  buildings  have  sustained  by  an  ab- 
sence and  neglect  of  eight  years  ;  that,  by  the  time  I 
have  accomplished  these  matters,  breakfast  (a  little  after 
seven  o'clock,  about  the  time,  I  presume,  you  are  taking 
leave  of  Mrs.  McHenry)  is  ready  ;  that,  this  being  over, 
I  mount  my  horse  and  ride  round  my  farms,  which  em- 
ploys me  until  it  is  time  to  dress  for  dinner,  at  which 
I  rarely  miss  seeing  strange  faces,  come,  as  they  say, 
out  of  respect  for  me.  Pray,  would  not  the  word  curi- 
osity answer  as  well  ?  And  how  different  this  from 
having  a  few  social  friends  at  a  cheerful  board  !  The 
usual  time  of  sitting  at  table,  a  walk,  and  tea,  bring  me 


246  GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

within  the  dawn  of  candle  light ;  previous  to  which,  if 
not  prevented  by  company,  I  resolve  that,  as  soon  as 
the  glimmering  taper  supplies  the  place  of  the  great 
luminary,  I  will  retire  to  my  writing-table  and  acknowl- 
edge the  letters  I  have  received ;  but  when  the  lights 
are  brought,  I  feel  tired  and  disinclined  to  engage  in 
this  work,  conceiving  that  the  next  night  will  do  as  well. 
The  next  night  comes,  and  with  it  the  same  causes  for 
postponement,  and  so  on.  This  will  account  for  your 
letter  remaining  so  long  unacknowledged  ;  and,  having 
given  you  the  history  of  a  day,  it  will  serve  for  a  year, 
and  I  am  persuaded  you  will  not  require  a  second  edi- 
tion of  it.  But  it  may  strike  you  that  in  this  detail  no 
mention  is  made  of  any  portion  of  time  allotted  for 
reading.  The  remark  would  be  just,  for  I  have  not 
looked  into  a  book  since  I  came  home ;  nor  shall  I  be 
able  to  do  it  until  I  have  discharged  my  workmen, 
probably  not  before  the  nights  grow  longer,  when  pos- 
sibly I  may  be  looking  in  Doomsday  Book.  At  present 
I  shall  only  add  that  I  am  always  and  affectionately 
yours." 

But  the  time  came  when  a  letter  to  the  secre- 
tary of  war  was  not  a  piece  of  pleasantry.  There 
was  imminent  danger  of  war  with  France ;  Con- 
gress issued  an  order  to  raise  an  army,  and  Presi- 
dent John  Adams  immediately  nominated  George 
Washington  as  commander-in-chief.  The  Senate 
promptly  confirmed  the  nomination,  and  Washing- 
ton accepted  on  two  conditions :  that  the  principal 
officers  should  be  such  as  he  approved,  and  that 
he  should  not  be  called  into  the  field  till  the  army 


THE  FAREWELL,  247 

required  his  presence.  He  did  not  think  there 
would  be  war,  but  he  believed  the  best  way  to 
prevent  it  was  to  show  that  the  people  were  ready 
for  it. 

It  was  in  March,  1797,  that  Washington  left 
Philadelphia  for  Mount  Vernon  ;  in  July,  1798, 
he  was  appointed  commander-in-chief.  He  con- 
ducted most  of  his  business  by  letter,  though  he 
spent  a  month  in  Philadelphia.  He  took  up  again 
the  burden  he  had  laid  down,  quietly,  readily, 
since  it  was  necessary,  and  without  complaint ;  but 
he  had  not  very  long  to  bear  it. 

On  December  12, 1799,  he  had  been  riding  over 
his  farms  as  usual,  but  a  rain  and  sleet  storm  came 
up,  and  he  returned  to  the  house  chilled  through 
by  the  exposure.  The  next  day  was  still  stormy, 
and  he  kept  indoors  ;  but  he  had  taken  cold  and 
suffered  from  a  sore  throat.  He  passed  the  even- 
ing with  his  family,  however,  read  the  papers,  and 
talked  cheerfully.  In  the  night  he  had  an  attack- 
of  ague,  and  on  the  next  morning,  which  was 
Saturday,  the  14th,  he  breathed  with  difficulty,  and 
messengers  were  sent  for  one  doctor  after  another. 
He  suffered  acutely,  but  did  not  complain.  To- 
ward evening  he  said  to  Dr.  Craik  :  "  I  die  hard, 
but  I  am  not  afraid  to  die.  I  believed  from  my 
first  attack  that  1  should  not  survive  it.  My  breath 
cannot  last  long."  He  said  little  more,  only 
thanked  his  attendants  for  their  kindness,  and 
bade  them  give  themselves  no  further  trouble,  — 


248  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

simply  to  let  him  die  in  quietness.     Between  ten 
and  eleven  o'clock  that  night  he  died. 

Chief  Justice  Marshall,  when  the  news  reached 
Congress,  said  a  few  simple  words  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  asked  that  a  committee 
be  appointed  in  conjunction  with  a  committee  of 
the  Senate  "  to  consider  on  the  most  suitable 
manner  of  paying  honor  to  the  memory  of  the 
man^rstf  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the 
hearts  of  his  fellow-citizens  ;  "  but  no  manner  has 
been  found  more  suitable  than  the  study  of  that 
life  which  is  the  most  priceless  gift  to  America. 


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